Lumpy's Winter
by PrincessSara1998
Summary: From December 22 to Christmas Day, Lumpy enjoys his winter break from work with his friend Sniffles, along with Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie. Full of cuteness, humor and quite a few sneezes in each chapter, this story is sure to make you smile. Merry early Christmas :)
1. Winter Sneezes

It was a snowy day in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. Lumpy was just outside his house, playing in the snow. To keep warm, he was wearing a red scarf and light blue knit hat.

After Lumpy had finished building a nice snowman, he decided to draw some pictures in the snow. He drew some stars, hearts and mini-snowmen, along with a less detailed version of himself with his scarf. As he looked at his creations, he laughed in amusement.

"Man, snow days are the best!" Lumpy said. "I wish we could have them all day long."

He picked up a small amount of snow - which just happened to be a part of where he drew himself - then made it into a snowball and threw it at his snowman. Lumpy laughed playfully, and then went over to the snowman to build whatever remained of the snowball.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I just wanted to spruce you up a bit," said Lumpy, pretending the snowman was alive.

Suddenly, however, the wind blew an exceptionally cold chill toward Lumpy, causing him to hug himself as he shivered.

"Ooh, it's pretty cold out here," Lumpy said to himself.

Just then, Lumpy felt a tickle in his nose, and his nostrils flared up. He tilted his upper body back as he inhaled, his snout quivering. He was going to sneeze.

"Ah, aaaah... Ah-choo!" Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze. When he recovered, he sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Ugh."

"Maybe it's too cold for me to... play anymore..." Lumpy's eyes twitched as his nose and nostrils twitched even more. His eyelids fell closed as he turned away from his snowman. Lumpy felt a few more sneezes coming on.

"Aaah... Ahhhh... Aaaaaahhhhh..." Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as he could, then sneezed again. "CHOOOOOOO! AH-CHUUUUUU! HAAAAAAH-CHIOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy's nose began to run from the sneezes as well as the chill. Lumpy rubbed his nose once again with his forefinger, sniffling here and there.

"Yep, time to go back inside," said Lumpy.

He waved goodbye to his snowman, then started walking back towards his house. But on the way, Lumpy's sneezes continued.

"Ahhh-CHOOOOOO! HAAAAAHHHHH-CHOOOOOOO! CHUUUUUU! HaaaaAAAAH-TCHIUUUUUU! Ah, ah-tshoooooo!" And with every release, Lumpy's nose ran more and more. To make things worse, Lumpy didn't have any tissues.

"Ugh..." Lumpy sniffled loudly and wiped his nose with the end of his scarf. "If only I had one of my hankies..."

"Ehh-heeehhhh... HIIIITTTSHIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" If Lumpy had his eyes open, he would have clearly seen a large amount of mucus fire out of his nostrils. He rubbed his red, runny nose with his forefinger, sniffling repeatedly.

"Excuse be..." said Lumpy to no one in particular.

Luckily, Lumpy could see his house just in front of him. He'd made it. Lumpy smiled and walked up to his house, then grabbed the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open.

"Aaaah-shuuuuuu!" Lumpy sneezed as he went inside. He closed the door, rubbing his drippy nose with his forefinger. "Deed a tissue..."

Lumpy looked over at his tissue box on the end table in front of the couch, then walked over to it. Just as he pulled a tissue out, however, another sneeze escaped.

"Hehhhtshiuuuuuu!" Lumpy sneezed into the tissue, causing the edges to flutter. Lumpy sniffled, then blew his nose loudly.

"Ah, that's better," Lumpy said as he wiped his nose with the tissue.

He took off his scarf, still damp from his mucus, and tossed it in the hamper. Lumpy picked up a blanket, wrapped it around himself, then picked up his tissues and went over to the fireplace. He flicked on a switch and the fire immediately started up in the fireplace. Lumpy sighed in relief as he sat down on the easy chair in front of the fire. He placed his feet on the ottoman and wiggled his toes gently, the heat from the fire radiating onto his soles.

"Haaaah-choo!" Lumpy released another sneeze, then took another tissue and blew his nose gently with it. "Playing in the snow always gives me a sneezy, sniffly nose, doesn't it?" asked Lumpy as he wiped his nose.

"Oh, well..." Lumpy shrugged a little. "It's worth it to have this automatic fireplace."

For quite a few minutes, Lumpy stayed in front of the fireplace, keeping his feet warm and comforting his nose with his soft tissues. Some time before sunset, however, he heard the doorbell ring. He removed his blanket from his body, stood up from the easy chair and went over to the door.

When he opened it, a mailman stood with a package. "Delivery for Lumpy."

"Oh, thank you." Lumpy smiled, took the package and went back inside. But it had been so cold outside that he sneezed again just after he'd closed the door.

"Ah... Aaaah... Hchoooo!" Lumpy threw his hand over his mouth as he sneezed, then rubbed his nose with his forefinger. A little bit of mucus oozed out of his nostril from the sneeze. "Huh, I guess I'm catching cold."

After he'd opened the package, however, he saw many bundles of brown tissue paper - and one little piece of white paper. The white paper had some text on it; it must have been a note. Lumpy read it to himself.

"Hello, Lumpy, enclosed are your winter presents from us - might come in handy next time you catch a cold. Hoping you stay warm and healthy, Mom and Dad. P.S., don't forget to come to our house for Christmas in a couple days, we have a surprise for you!"

Lumpy smiled and pushed the brown tissue paper aside, hoping to find what his presents were. Finally, he found them and smiled in happiness and relief.

There were three presents, and two of them were ten-packs of cloth handkerchiefs. One of the packs contained red hankies, the other contained Lumpy's preferred white hankies. The third present was a fresh box of tissues.

"Just what I need!" Lumpy said.

He opened up the pack of red hankies, pulled one out and blew his nose. It was a gentle and quiet blow, but it cleared the excess mucus from his nostril, to his happiness. Lumpy sighed and smiled as he wiped his nose with the handkerchief.

"Mom and Dad couldn't have chosen a better time or better gifts to send me," said Lumpy.

Later that night, it was time for Lumpy to get ready for bed. He switched off the fireplace, went upstairs into his bedroom, and placed his box of tissues on the end table close to his bed. His pack of white hankies went onto the drawer, along with his opened pack of red hankies. He folded up the hanky he'd already used and put it on top of the pack of red hankies so he would know where to find them.

Lumpy went into the bathroom, took a warm shower, brushed his teeth, and returned to his bedroom to put on his pajamas. After that, Lumpy went up to his bed and fluffed his pillow before he got under the covers.

"It'll probably snow again tomorrow," said Lumpy. "If so, I'll take some of my new hankies with me before I go out and play."

Lumpy then yawned deeply into his hand. Warm under the covers in his pajamas, he switched off the light and went to sleep. Over his snoring, he could hear the wind howling outside.


	2. A Snow Day with Sniffles

It was the morning after Lumpy had been reminded of his Christmas with his parents. Even after his alarm clock had reached seven, Lumpy was still sleeping in his bed. When he finally opened his eyes, it was because of the sudden chills coursing through his body. He sat up in bed, arms wrapped around his upper body as he shivered.

"S-so cold..." Lumpy muttered. "What's the t-t-temperature today?"

He sat on the edge of his bed, and then stepped off. He left his bedroom, went downstairs and entered the kitchen, where there was a mercury thermometer that checked how cold or hot it was outside, and it hung on the wall close to the window. Lumpy checked it, but his eyes widened in surprise.

The red liquid had gone lower than zero and was almost at the bottom.

"It's in the negative..." Lumpy muttered in slight annoyance. But when he looked outside, he saw that it had snowed. His annoyance turned into a little smile. "At least the snow didn't melt."

Just thinking about the snow, however, made Lumpy shiver again. His nose tickled slightly as well, so he sniffled, but then released a small sneeze.

"Hhhchoo!" Despite the quiet release of the sneeze, Lumpy could feel his nose growing runny. He rubbed underneath it with his forefinger as he sniffled loudly. "I better get in the shower. That oughta warm me up."

So Lumpy climbed back up the stairs, went into the bathroom, took of his pajamas and took a shower. It did warm him up, but Lumpy wasn't convinced it would help. After about fifteen minutes, Lumpy stepped out of the shower, wrapped himself in a towel, and proceeded to brush his teeth. As he did so, however, he kept shivering and shaking. If he knew it was going to be this cold, he would have turned on the heater before bed.

Finally Lumpy sipped a glass of water and spat it out into the sink to wash his mouth out. He then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, only to notice his nostrils were flaring up again. Another sneeze was coming.

"Ah... Heh..." Lumpy inhaled, then pressed his hand against his mouth and stifled the sneeze. "Hnntshhh!"

However, since he'd tried to keep his mouth shut, the sneeze forced its way out through his nostrils, leaving two drops of mucus oozing out of his nose. Lumpy grabbed two tissues and blew his nose loudly into them, expelling the mucus from his nostrils. A bit relieved, he wiped his nose with the tissues.

"Ugh, it's so cold in here..." Lumpy commented. "It's making me sneezy."

Lumpy threw away his tissues, then opened a thing of deodorant and applied it to his underarms. It didn't tickle, but that would have made it inconvenient anyway. Lumpy closed the deodorant, put it away and walked out of the bathroom, back into his room. He placed his pajamas on the bed.

"Ehhchuuu!" Lumpy sneezed. He placed his forefinger underneath his nose, then looked at the packs of red and white handkerchiefs from the night before. He also saw the folded red hanky on top of it. He picked it up and wiped his nose with both hands, snorting lightly as he did so.

"Good thing I have these hankies," said Lumpy. "But I'll need to put some clothes on so I can keep warm."

Putting his handkerchief in his pocket, Lumpy opened up his dresser and pulled out a light blue sweater, as blue as his fur. He'd washed it and put it away the night before, so it was ready to wear. Lumpy slipped it on, somehow getting it over his antlers with ease. But as soon as it had covered his belly, Lumpy sneezed again.

"AaahTCHIOO!" When he shot his neck forwards, a piece of fuzz flew out of his nostril. Lumpy blinked as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Whoops. Guess I didn't air this out after I cleaned it."

"Oh, well..." Lumpy hugged himself and sighed in contentment. "I feel so much warmer now."

Lumpy then noticed that there was a light blue pair of pants, made with the same kind of material as his sweater. Removing his hanky from his pocket, Lumpy took them out and put them on, one leg at a time. He then saw that the pants had pockets, so he filled both of them with one clean, white handkerchief. His red one went in the right pocket.

Lumpy closed his drawer, then opened another one that revealed a collection of scarves. Lumpy pulled out his blue scarf that had the white snowflakes on it, lowered the collar of his sweater and wrapped the scarf around his neck.

"This oughta keep me warm if I catch a cold," said Lumpy.

The next drawer that Lumpy opened contained a variety of fluffy socks. Lumpy pulled out a pair of white ones and pulled them over his feet, one sock at a time. He sighed again in satisfaction, then closed the drawer before he put his black snow boots on his feet.

Lumpy then looked at himself in the mirror. He was all bundled up in his sweater, pants, socks, boots and scarf. Ready to take on the cold weather.

Lumpy picked up his pajamas, left his room, and went downstairs. After putting his pajamas in the hamper, he opened the front door. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him, then looked out into the front yard. The blanket of snow covered all of the grass and the roads. The skies were covered with clouds from which snowflakes fell. It was beautiful. Lumpy smiled.

"Another snow day has come," said Lumpy. But suddenly he grew a pre-sneeze face and tilted his neck back as he inhaled. "Ah, ah, ah... choo!"

Lumpy shot his upper body forwards when he sneezed, his breath visible in the cold. Lumpy pulled out his red handkerchief, blew his nose very lightly, and then wiped his nose, holding the handkerchief with one hand.

"It's just the chill," Lumpy reassured himself. "I'm perfectly fine and ready to play."

He slipped his hanky back in his right pocket and headed out onto the snow. Suddenly a snowball hit him in the face, causing him to cringe. As Lumpy wiped the snow off his eyes and nose, he heard giggling. He looked around for a moment for who threw the snowball at him.

Lumpy then saw that Sniffles was just outside the front yard, having thrown the snowball and giggling over his successful hit. Sniffles was wearing a pink scarf, earmuffs and gloves. Lumpy smiled and giggled as well, then walked over to Sniffles.

"Hi, Sniffles," Lumpy greeted him.

"Oh, hi, Lumpy!" Sniffles greeted him in return. "My goodness, it really snowed last night!"

"It sure did. It snowed yesterday, too!" Lumpy replied.

"Yes, I saw it did," said Sniffles. "But I'm afraid I was too busy working on some orders from the science facility to actually play in the snow."

"Oh, it's okay," said Lumpy. "But now..." Lumpy picked up a small amount of snow and rolled it into a ball. Before Sniffles could even realize, Lumpy threw it at his face.

"Hey!"

"Hahaha!" Lumpy laughed in amusement. "Somebody shouldn't have hit me with a snowball. Hahaha!"

Sniffles reached his hand up to rub the snow off his face, then straightened his glasses and looked up at Lumpy with a mischievous smile.

"Ah, what are you gonna do?" Lumpy asked playfully.

He caught a lone snowflake that was falling to Earth, then blew it away. Suddenly he felt a feather brush his nose, catching him off-guard.

"Huh? Ah-AH- TSHUUUUU!" Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he sneezed loudly, with a small amount of spray being released from his mouth. He then groaned and rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling repeatedly. "Ugh..."

"Hehehehehe!" Sniffles giggled, holding the grayish white feather in his hand. "Gesundheit, Lumpy! Have I introduced you to my first snowbird feather? I haven't, have I?"

"Um, what are you talking about?" Lumpy asked, still rubbing his nose.

"As you can see, Lumpy..." Sniffles showed him the feather in his hand. "This is a feather from the tail of a snowbird. The first one I've seen all year!"

"Oh." Lumpy smiled.

"Well, actually, it was from a dark-eyed junco," Sniffles corrected himself. "But we all call them snowbirds because they can be seen very often in the winter."

"That's really interesting."

"But what I'm saying is, I'd like to tickle you with this," Sniffles went on. "It's pretty soft, and I can't help but imagine how much it could tickle..."

"Oh, sure," Lumpy said with a nod. "But make it quick, please, it's freezing."

Sniffles smiled, lifted up Lumpy's sweater to reveal his belly, and stroked it gently with his feather. Lumpy quickly began to laugh as he twitched.

"Hahahahaha, hahahahahahahaha!"

"Hehe!" Sniffles giggled in response to Lumpy's laughter and continued to tickle his tummy with the soft feather. "Coochie, coochie!"

"Hahahahahahahahaha! That tickles!" Lumpy laughed. But as the tickling went on, he started sneezing again, this time while also laughing. "Hahahahahaha- Hah-choo! -hahahaha! Ah-choo!"

"Aww!" Sniffles cooed over Lumpy's sneezes. "I'm not even tickling your nose, and you're sneezing! How cute~!"

"Hahahahaha! That's because it's... Hahahahahaha! Ah-chiuu!" Lumpy sneezed again. "...it's too cold! Hahahahahaha! Hehh-chioo!"

"Oh, right..." Sniffles removed his feather from Lumpy's tummy and pulled his sweater back down. Lumpy rubbed his nose again with his forefinger. "Bless you, Lumpy."

"Thanks." Lumpy pulled out his red handkerchief and wiped his nose with it. "My mom and dad gave me some new hankies as a winter present, by the way."

"That was very nice of them," Sniffles said with a smile. "Your parents are so thoughtful."

"They sure are," said Lumpy. He put away his handkerchief. "Hey, you wanna build a snow fort or something?"

Sniffles was about to respond, but suddenly sneezed. "Hehchyu!" He rubbed his nose, but he could tell that that one sneeze wasn't enough relief. He began to inhale desperately. "Eh-heh... hih, huuh... Aaah..."

Lumpy raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Sniffles? Are you gonna sneeze?"

"Uh-huh- Hehhh..." Sniffles replied. "M-my nose t-tiih- tickles... Eeehhhh...!" Sniffles gestured towards his shivery, tickly trunk. "L-luuh... Lumpyyy... T-tickle m-myy... truuuhuuuhh..."

Even though he couldn't finish his sentence, Lumpy knew what Sniffles wanted him to do. He gently took his feather out of his hand and brushed underneath Sniffles' trunk.

"HiiiIIIIH-!" Sniffles gasped. Lumpy's soft tickles were making his trunk tickle more and more. He could feel his sneeze crying out for him to release it. "HEEEEEHHHHHHHH...!"

"Uh-oh..." Lumpy said in worry, knowing what was going to happen. He pulled his feather away from Sniffles' trunk and took a few steps back, trying to avoid getting sprayed. Sniffles tilted his upper body as far back as it could go, trunk rumbling madly, and then exploded dramatically.

"EEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Large amounts of saliva fired out of Sniffles' mouth when he released the sneeze. It was quite painful and forceful, but satisfying. Sniffles gave a series of loud sniffles and rubbed his trunk constantly with his forefinger. Lumpy stood where he was, shocked and in disbelief.

"Oh, my gosh..." said Lumpy. "BLESS you, Sniffles!"

"Th-thank you..." Sniffles continued to rub his nose. He gave another audible sniffle that sounded quite wet. "Uuugh. I... I think I need to blow my nose..."

"Yeah, I can tell," said Lumpy.

Sniffles pulled out a light blue handkerchief, pressed it underneath his trunk and tried to blow. But it didn't help much, and the fact that his nose and mouth were in the same spot didn't make it any better.

"Need some help?" Lumpy asked.

"Yes, please." Sniffles nodded, still sniffling.

Lumpy pulled out one of his white handkerchiefs and pinched the bridge of Sniffles' trunk with it. "Okay, now try blowing."

Sniffles exhaled as hard as he could, finally blowing his nose and expelling the mucus that was inside. Lumpy was so surprised that he didn't notice as the mucus blew right out of Sniffles' mouth. But when Sniffles sighed in relief, he could tell it had worked.

"There you go," said Lumpy with a smile. He pulled his hanky away from Sniffles' trunk.

"Thank you, Lumpy." Sniffles rubbed the top of his trunk with his own handkerchief.

"Oh, you're welcome," Lumpy replied. "But are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sniffles said truthfully. He gave a mild sniffle. "It's just really cold out here."

"It sure is," Lumpy agreed.

As Sniffles tried to think of a response, his trunk suddenly twitched again. Coincidentally, Lumpy felt a tickle in his nose as well. In just about perfect unison, the two inhaled, then sneezed.

"Ah... Ah, AH... TCHUUUUU!"

Although both of then were equally audible, Lumpy's sneeze had noticeably more spray than Sniffles'. Sniffles rubbed underneath his trunk with his arm while Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Excuse me... and bless you, Lumpy," said Sniffles.

"Bless you, too," Lumpy replied. "Let's go inside and warm up."

"Good idea," replied Sniffles. "My house?"

Lumpy thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. But then he remembered he still had the feather in his hand. He offered it to Sniffles, who still had his arm under his nose.

"Here's your snowbird feather back," Lumpy said.

"Thanks, Lumpy." Sniffles smiled, took the feather and placed it in his pocket. "Now let's go."

The two of them went off to Sniffles' house, both of them shivering and sniffling occasionally. Lumpy's nose must have started running again. When they made it to Sniffles' home, Lumpy started sneezing again.

"Ah-choo! Hah-chu! Nntchew! Aah... aaaah-sheww!" Lumpy pulled out his white handkerchief that he'd used to help Sniffles earlier, and wiped his nose with it.

"Bless you," said Sniffles. "I'll get you some tissues, okay?"

Lumpy nodded appreciatively and headed inside with Sniffles. The heater was on and Lumpy could feel warm air coming from the vents. One was close to the ceiling, but there was another one close to the bottom of the wall. He walked over to it, sat down in front of it and sighed in relief.

"Ah, this is more like it." Lumpy gave a little sniffle.

"Good thing you're all bundled up, otherwise, you'd catch a cold." Sniffles pulled a couple of tissues out from a box and handed them to Lumpy.

"Yeah... Aaaaah-shiuuu!" Lumpy sneezed again, then blew his nose into the tissues before wiping his nose with them. "Not that I don't always sneeze a lot in the winter, anyway."

"Same with me," Sniffles said with a giggle. He sat down in front of the vent next to Lumpy.

"Say, Lumpy, what are you doing for Christmas?" Sniffles asked.

"I'm going to visit my parents," said Lumpy. "Apparently they have a surprise for me."

"You don't suppose it's lots of presents, do you?" Sniffles replied, jokingly.

Lumpy couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, Sniffles! Of course I know they're gonna give me presents, I just don't know what they are yet."

"I'd say that's part of the surprise," Sniffles said.

"What are you doing on Christmas?" Lumpy asked.

"Not much, really," said Sniffles. "Although my parents are coming to visit me on Christmas morning. It's the only day out of the whole year they ever visit me, though, so I always make the best of it. They want the best for me, and I want the best for them."

Lumpy smiled. "How sweet."

"Indeed." Sniffles' trunk suddenly twitched again, and he gave another sneeze. "Hachyu!"

"Bless you," Lumpy said as Sniffles rubbed his trunk with his hand.

"Thanks... And sorry about that. This air vent is a little dusty," Sniffles explained. "I'm gonna turn off the heat real quick and dust the vent."

"Okay." Lumpy stood up, as did Sniffles, who then walked over to the thermostat that was connected to the air conditioning and heater.

Sniffles pressed a button, causing all of the heat to stop flowing through the vents. He then went back to the same vent Lumpy was standing at, picked up a duster and started brushing the vent with it. Dust started to rise, tickling both his and Lumpy's noses. Sniffles didn't sneeze, however, since he'd taken his allergy medicine. Lumpy, on the other hand, started sneezing away.

"Ah-choo, ah-choo, hah-choo!"

As Lumpy rubbed his itchy nose, Sniffles removed the cover from the air vent and started dusting the insides. Even more dust filled the air, sending Lumpy into an even bigger sneezing fit.

"HEH-CHOO! AH-SHOO! HUUUH-CHOO! AHCHOO! HETCHIOO! HIITCHUUUUU! ETCHIUUUUUUU! AAAHHHHTCHEEEEEWWWWW!"

"S-so... Hutchioooo! ...dusty... Heeetchooooooo!" Lumpy sneezed, his nose red from the dust. At least the feathers from the duster weren't what were making him sneeze. "HAAAAHTCHOOOOOOOOO!"

Finally Sniffles was finished dusting. He pulled the duster out of the vent and replaced the cover. He saw that Lumpy's eyes were watering, his snout twitching and nostrils dripping. Lumpy rubbed his nose constantly with his forefinger until Sniffles wiped his nose with a tissue.

"Sorry about that, Lumpy," Sniffles apologized. "And gesundheit."

"Thanks." Lumpy took the tissue and blew his nose three times.

"I know it was super dusty, but it was worth it to clean out that vent," said Sniffles. After he'd finished saying that, some of the dust finally tickled his trunk and made him let out a sneeze. "Hiii-kchyu!" Sniffles blushed a little in embarrassment and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Excuse me."

"Bless you," Lumpy replied as he wiped his nose with his tissue, having finished blowing.

"Thanks..." Sniffles continued to rub his nose. "You know, I'm getting a little hot from being in here."

"Me too," Lumpy said as he pulled on the collar of his sweater.

"How'd you like to go back outside and play in the snow with me?" Sniffles suggested. He briefly went to the kitchen to place the duster on the coat rack for later.

"Oh, sure!" Lumpy said with a nod.

With that, Lumpy and Sniffles headed back outside. The snow hadn't melted. Lumpy took a deep breath and sighed, feeling better. However, his nose once again sensed the cold air and his nostrils flared up. Lumpy, knowing what was going to happen, pulled out his red handkerchief and sneezed into it.

"Heeetchuuuu!"

"Bless you," said Sniffles as Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Let me know when you start feeling sick, and I'll make you a remedy."

"Okay, but really, I'm fine," Lumpy replied. He put away his handkerchief. "Now let's get started."

Excitedly, Sniffles proceeded to scoop up a large amount of snow that he made into a ball. He then turned to look at Lumpy, who was enjoying the nice chill, and threw the snowball at him. It landed right on the side of his stomach, causing him to wince from how cold it was.

"Hahaha, hehehehe!" Sniffles laughed. Not long afterwards, however, Lumpy made himself a couple of snowballs and threw one of them at Sniffles' face. When it hit, he threw the other one at his belly - and the next thing Sniffles knew, his tummy was practically freezing.

"EEEEK!"

"Yeah, how do you like that?" Lumpy playfully asked. "Hahaha!"

Sniffles brushed the snow off his glasses and belly, then looked at Lumpy with an equally playful expression on his face.

"You wanna have a snowball fight, don't ya?" Sniffles asked.

"Well, you did hit me first..." Lumpy stated. "For the second time just today. So now I want to."

"Alright, if you say so," replied Sniffles. "But whoever wins, gets to tickle the loser!"

"Oh, it is on!" Lumpy said.

And so the two of them proceeded onto their snowball fight. Lumpy could throw more snowballs than Sniffles, but Sniffles could make them a bit faster than Lumpy. That being said, they both had a lot of fun throwing the snowballs at one another.

Lumpy occasionally tried to distract Sniffles so he could give him an extra chance to hit him with a snowball, but Sniffles didn't fall for it. In fact, it was the other way around. Sniffles could easily distract Lumpy just so he could throw another one of his snowballs at him. Lumpy just never saw through his tactics.

Finally, after about half an hour, they concluded the snowball fight. It had been clear that Sniffles had won, and that Lumpy had been hit the most.

"Well, Sniffles, it looks like you've beat me," Lumpy said as he brushed the snow off his face and clothes. "Which means I get to be tickled, don't I?"

"That's right, Lumpy," Sniffles said proudly and playfully. "But how'd you like to go to my house? I wouldn't want to tickle you out here, you'd probably freeze."

"Well, okay..." Lumpy said with a nod.

With that, Lumpy and Sniffles returned to the latter's house. When they got there, Sniffles removed his earmuffs and led Lumpy into the lab, and Lumpy obeyed him without suspecting what he was in for. Upon arrival, Sniffles gestured Lumpy to sit in one of the chairs, and he did so - but as soon as he did, two shackles closed on his ankles, trapping him there.

"H-hey! What the-?!" Lumpy tried to get up, but he couldn't.

"Well, I did beat you at the snowball fight, and I did say the winner gets to tickle the loser," Sniffles reminded him. "Remember?"

"Uh, yeah?" Lumpy said in worry.

"Just think of this as your... consolation prize."

Sniffles removed his gloves from his hands, presumably to make it easier to tickle Lumpy. Then, as gently as he could, he pulled Lumpy's boots off his feet, followed by his socks. He could tell that Lumpy was blushing and sweating nervously at his actions.

Sniffles placed both hands against Lumpy's soles, causing Lumpy to smirk. With a mischievous smile, Sniffles began to stroke all of his fingers against Lumpy's feet.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Lumpy began to laugh as he wiggled his toes around. "Ahahahahahahaha!"

Sniffles moved both of his hands to the arches of Lumpy's feet and continued tickling him, wiggling all of his fingers around as much as he could.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy started to laugh harder as he twitched his body and wiggled his toes constantly.

"Tickle-tickle-tickle~!" Sniffles teased him with a giggle.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It, it ticklessss! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

Sniffles continued to tickle Lumpy's feet for an entire minute. Then he stopped to give Lumpy a break. Lumpy panted repeatedly, trying to catch his breath. He'd been wearing his socks and boots for long enough that his feet had become quite a bit more ticklish than usual.

When Lumpy had caught his breath, Sniffles asked, "Lumpy, may I take off your sweater?"

"I guess, but... why?" Lumpy asked.

"You'll see." Sniffles took the bottom of Lumpy's sweater and pulled it up over his head, removing it from his body.

"Ack!" Lumpy cringed and shivered. "It's too cold without my sweater!"

"I'm sorry, Lumpy, I just wanted to tickle you in a few other places," Sniffles stated.

"Well, okay..." Lumpy said as he stopped shivering.

Sniffles then pushed another button, causing a couple of mechanical arms to come out of the chair, grab Lumpy's arms and raise them over his head. Lumpy whimpered and struggled a little, but didn't break free.

A playful smile slowly appeared on Sniffles' face as he pulled out a feather. It wasn't the same as the snowbird feather that he'd shown Lumpy, but a small white one. He slowly tickled Lumpy's belly with the feather, causing Lumpy to giggle and laugh.

"Hehehe, that..." Lumpy started to say, but the feather brushed a particularly ticklish spot on his tummy - the lower right area - making him laugh more audibly. "Hahahahaha! That tickles! Hehehehe!"

"Hmm..." Sniffles said to himself. He moved the feather to the lower left area of Lumpy's tummy and wiggled it around gently.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Lumpy laughed.

"Sounds like I've found a tickle spot!" said Sniffles.

He picked up another feather and placed both of the feathers on Lumpy's tummy - one on the lower left area, one on the lower right. Lumpy was smirking widely and desperately trying to fight the urge to laugh, but it wasn't going to work. But then Sniffles began to wiggle both of the feathers around, causing Lumpy to laugh from how much it tickled.

"HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sniffles giggled audibly over Lumpy's laughter and kept tickling his tummy with his soft feathers. He was going to make this quick, but he enjoyed every moment.

"TTTHHHAAAATTTTT TTTIIIICCCCKKKKLLLEEESSSSS!" Lumpy screamed through his laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After a few seconds, Sniffles stopped tickling Lumpy and pulled the feathers away from his tummy. Lumpy's face was covered in sweat and he was gasping for air again.

"I'm sorry, Lumpy, I just couldn't resist." Sniffles giggled audibly.

"It's fine... I know... how you are..." Lumpy panted. "And besides... I pretty much... got what I... deserved..."

Sniffles then pushed a couple of buttons on the chair, causing Lumpy's wrists and ankles to be freed from the restraints and mechanical arms. Lumpy stood up from the chair, put his sweater back on, and then slipped his socks and boots back onto his feet.

"Now that I've had my fun," said Sniffles, "how would you like a nice cup of hot chocolate?"

"Yes, please," Lumpy replied with a nod. Surely that would make him feel better.

And so Sniffles led Lumpy out of the lab and into the kitchen. After washing his hands, Sniffles began to make some hot chocolate. Lumpy sat at the table and waited patiently. Before long, the room was filled with the scent of hot chocolate. Lumpy loved that smell, and he couldn't resist taking an enormous sniff.

However, Lumpy's nose then started to tickle, a sign that he was going to sneeze. Thinking quickly, he pulled out one of his white handkerchiefs and covered the end of his snout with it.

"Ah... Ah..." Lumpy inhaled a couple of times, quietly but desperately. He pressed the hanky against his ticklish nostrils before he sneezed. "Ah-tchhhh!"

Lumpy managed to stifle the sneeze and keep it from being too loud, but then his nose felt a bit runny. He blew his nose lightly and wiped his nose with his handkerchief.

"Excuse me," said Lumpy.

"It's fine," Sniffles replied. "Bless you, Lumpy."

"Thanks," Lumpy said as he continued to wipe his nose.

After a few minutes, the hot chocolate was ready to drink. Sniffles poured the sweet and hot beverage into two mugs - a light blue one and a dark blue one with white stars. He gave the dark blue mug to Lumpy, just as he had put his handkerchief back in his pocket, and kept the light blue mug for himself.

"Thank you," Lumpy said. He picked up the mug, blew on it a little, and then took a sip. The mere taste made him smile, and he sighed contentedly.

Sniffles sat down at the table with Lumpy and took a sip of his own hot chocolate. He smiled as well from the delicious flavor. Lumpy took another sip of his hot chocolate and smiled at Sniffles after he pulled the mug away from his mouth.

"Sniffles, this is delicious," Lumpy stated.

"It sure is," Sniffles agreed. "Are you still feeling chilly?"

"A little," said Lumpy. "But this is making me feel much better."

"It's warming me up, too." Sniffles took another sip of his hot chocolate, and then got an idea. "Hey, Lumpy?"

"Yeah?" Lumpy sipped some more hot chocolate from his mug.

"The next time you catch a cold, how would you like me to make you some more hot chocolate?" Sniffles asked.

Lumpy smiled. "That sounds like a great idea."

"That being said, it'd be more of an experiment if I gave some to you," Sniffles went on. "I mean, it is a hot beverage - like tea, for instance - and hot beverages are said to be beneficial for people who are sick. So why wouldn't it help?"

"Yeah, that's a good point," said Lumpy.

The two of them continued to drink their hot chocolates until they had been finished. As they were thinking about what to do next, Lumpy saw Sniffles' duster, still hanging on the coat rack where he left it. He remembered when Sniffles had been tickling him after he lost the snowball fight, a memory that gave him an idea.

Sniffles was lost in his own happy thoughts, so he didn't notice Lumpy scooting his chair back and walking over to the coat rack, or even when he returned to him. Lumpy looked at Sniffles playfully, then at the white, slightly dusty feather in his hand. With a mischievous smile, he began to wiggle the feather right underneath Sniffles' feet.

Sniffles' reaction was instant; he gasped, then started laughing. "HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

"L-LUMPY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! HIHIHIHYHYHYHYHYHYHYHY!"

"Giving you some tickles," said Lumpy with a giggle. He continued to tickle Sniffles' soles, listening to his adorable laughter as he did so.

"HEHEHEHEHEHE, HAHAHAHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Sniffles laughed, wiggling his toes around. "HIHIHIHIHIHI! HYHYHYHYHY!"

Lumpy rubbed the feather up and down Sniffles' foot, then the other foot. "Coochie-coochie-coochie~!" Lumpy teased.

"HYHYHYHYHY, LUMPYHYHYHYHY!" Sniffles replied, still laughing. "IT TICKLESSSSS! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

After a few seconds of tickling, Lumpy removed the feather from Sniffles' feet to let him catch his breath. Sniffles was gasping and panting for air while blushing at Lumpy. He wasn't mad, however; he knew Lumpy was going to tickle him after what they'd been through earlier.

Soon Sniffles had caught his breath and stopped panting. Lumpy could tell he was ready for more. He inserted the feather between Sniffles' first and second toes, and slowly swiped it out, causing Sniffles to laugh even more.

"Hehehehehehe!" Lumpy did this again, but by inserting the feather between his second and third toes and swiping it out. "Hyhyhyhyhyyy!" Sniffles wiggled his toes from how much it tickled.

Lumpy decided Sniffles had had enough of being tickled here, and removed his feather from his feet. Sniffles was blushing pretty hard, but he was enjoying this just as much as Lumpy. Lumpy then held the feather close to Sniffles' belly and started tickling him there.

"Hahahahaha, hehehehehehehe!" Sniffles started laughing again, although it wasn't as loud as when Lumpy tickled his feet. "That, that ticklesss! Hehehehehehehehe!"

"Aww!" Lumpy said as he kept tickling Sniffles. His laughter and admitting to how much it tickled was so cute and adorable. Hoping for some more of both, Lumpy moved the feather to Sniffles' side for a few seconds, then the other side.

"Hyhyhyhyhyhy! N-no, plehehease! I'm ticklish!" said Sniffles as he kept giggling and squirming around. "Hihihihyhyhyhy!"

Lumpy kept tickling Sniffles' sides and belly for about two minutes. Then he stopped and pulled the feather away from him. Sniffles held his sides, blushing once more.

"Th-thanks..."

Lumpy giggled once more. "Sorry, buddy, I just wanted to pay you back for how much you tickled me today."

"Yeah... I figured that." Sniffles took a deep breath and sighed with relief. "But it's alright, it was fun."

"It sure was," Lumpy replied with a smile.

"Oh, and Lumpy? May I see that real quick?" Sniffles gestured to the feather Lumpy was holding.

"Sure." Lumpy handed the feather to Sniffles without knowing what he was going to do with it.

"Thanks!" Sniffles then placed the side of the feather right under Lumpy's nostrils and brushed back and forth.

Lumpy was a bit confused, but not for long; his eyelids lowered halfway and twitched as his pupils shrunk. His snout began to twitch as well, while his nostrils shuddered and began to flare up. They couldn't handle the feather tickling so close to them, or the smell of the dust that had accumulated onto it since Sniffles' last dusting session.

"Ugh... m-my nose tickles," Lumpy stated. His breath began to hitch. "Ehh... Heeeeehhhhhh..."

Knowing what was going to happen, Sniffles pulled the feather away from Lumpy's nose and looked on in anticipation. Lumpy took a step back, then tilted his neck as far back as he could with a final inhale.

"HaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-" Lumpy's nostrils were flaring widely, his snout was trembling, and his shut eyes were even watering slightly. After quite a few seconds had gone by, it finally happened. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth and nose. The sneeze was pretty forceful, but felt satisfying to release. Lumpy sniffled loudly and rubbed his nose repeatedly with his forefinger.

"Hehehe!" Sniffles giggled as he put his feather in his pocket. "Gesundheit, Lumpy!"

"Thanks..." Lumpy replied, still rubbing his nose.

Sniffles kindly handed him a few tissues, one of which Lumpy blew his nose into. His nose feeling a bit better, Lumpy wiped the end of his snout after he'd finished blowing. He put the rest of his tissues in his pockets for the next time he needed them.

"I had a lot of fun playing with you today," said Sniffles.

Lumpy smiled. "I had lots of fun playing with you, too, Sniffles."

"Maybe we can do something together tomorrow, too," Sniffles offered.

"Gee, that sounds like a good idea," said Lumpy, "but tomorrow's Christmas Eve. I have to do some Christmas shopping for my friends and family..."

"I understand," replied Sniffles. "But it's alright; I'll be a bit busy shopping and getting ready for my parents' visit myself. However, I do plan on buying a gift for you, but I'll give it to you the night after tomorrow."

"Okay," said Lumpy. "It's getting late now. I'm going to go home."

Sniffles smiled and gave Lumpy a hug. Before long, Lumpy returned the favor. Sniffles loved the feel of Lumpy's sweater against his fur. When they finally let go, Lumpy left the kitchen and went over to the front door, with Sniffles following him there. Lumpy placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open, revealing the setting sun over the faraway mountains. The sun shone in both Lumpy and Sniffles' eyes, tickling their noses and making both of them sneeze.

"Ah-choo!"

"Haaah-chyu!"

Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger while Sniffles pulled out his handkerchief and rubbed it underneath his trunk.

"Bless you," Sniffles said with a sniffle.

"Thanks." Lumpy continued to rub his nose, then turned back to look at Sniffles. He waved goodbye to him. "Good night, Sniffles."

"Good night, Lumpy," Sniffles replied as he waved as well.

Lumpy walked out the door and closed it behind him. Sniffles stood at the door for a few seconds as he continued to wipe his nose. But as he did so, his tummy growled. Sniffles smiled and headed off into the kitchen to make his dinner.

Lumpy walked across the snow as he headed back to his house. None of the snow had melted, and he could see clouds moving in the sky. Maybe it was going to snow again tomorrow. But Lumpy was more excited about his Christmas plans. Tomorrow morning, he was going to go Christmas shopping, and he was looking forward to see what was available at the store.

Lumpy shivered as he walked home, wrapping his arms around his upper body. As the sun was setting, it was getting even colder than it had been today. Good thing he was bundled up for the weather. But as the sun disappeared into the horizon, and the sky turned dark with clouds, freezing winds began to blow. The chill tickled Lumpy's nose, making him sneeze in the midst of a shiver.

"Brrrrtchoooo!" Lumpy shot his neck forwards, then rubbed his forefinger underneath his nose. "S-s-so c-c-cold..." he shivered.

Lumpy kept his arms around his upper body for warmth as he kept walking, shivering along the way. The winds continued blowing, sending chills all over Lumpy's body. A particularly strong wind blew Lumpy's sweater up over his belly, and the cold sensation was intense. Lumpy shivered even more, grabbed his sweater and pulled it back down to cover his belly.

"W-what're you t-trying to do? T-t-tickle my t-tummy?" Lumpy asked, but got no response but more cold gusts in his face. Lumpy hugged himself as he shivered again. "S-so cold... g-g-gotta g-get h-home b-b-before I c... c-c-catch a... c-c-cold..."

Fortunately, Lumpy could see his house up ahead. He walked up to the front door and shakily placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open. Then he hastily went inside and shut the door behind him. He'd made it.

"Phew!" Lumpy sighed with relief as he wiped his forehead with his hand. "That was close. Any longer out there, and I would've caught a... Ah... AHHH..."

"AHHHTTTtttchoo!" Lumpy stifled his sneeze by pressing his forefinger underneath his nose. He sniffled as he rubbed his nose with it afterwards. "...a cold."

Lumpy pulled out one of the tissues Sniffles gave him and blew his nose - he gave it a good blow, in fact. Sighing in relief, he wiped his nose with the tissue and threw it away. Then he pulled out the rest of his tissues and placed them on the table for later.

Lumpy then decided it was time to do some laundry. All three of his handkerchiefs from his pants went into the washer. His scarf, sweater, pants and socks went in, too. Lumpy emptied the hamper, finding his red scarf from yesterday, a pair of dark blue socks, some underwear, his light blue handkerchief, a few white handkerchiefs and his pajamas. He put in some liquid laundry soap, closed the washing machine's door and started it up.

Lumpy went into the kitchen, washed his hands, and began to make his dinner. Tonight he was going to have soup. He filled a big pot with water and placed it on the stove, which he then turned on. As the water started to boil, Lumpy unwrapped some uncooked noodles from a bag and placed them in the water. As they softened and loosened, Lumpy gently tore open a packet of flavoring and dumped it into the pot. He then took a wooden spoon and started to stir the soup, sniffing the delicious aroma as he did so.

Finally, dinner was ready. Lumpy poured himself a bowl of soup, retrieved a spoon and sat down at the table. He began to eat, taking his time to enjoy every spoonful of noodles and soup. It tasted just as good as it smelled.

When the bowl was empty, Lumpy placed it along with the spoon in the dishwasher, which he started up. Lumpy smiled, sighed and rubbed his full belly. Just then, however, he realized the washing machine was finished. He went back over to it and placed his clothes and hankies in the dryer.

Before he started it, however, he removed the dryer's screen and brushed the lint off of it. But the dust from the lint tickled his nose, causing it to twitch. Besides pollen and dust, lint was another thing that made Lumpy sneezy. It always tickled his nose, which often made doing laundry a challenge. Lumpy threw away the bundle of lint in his hands, placed the screen back in the dryer, and closed the door, just as he began to inhale.

"Ah... AH... AHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his neck back and then sneezed loudly. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ugh!" Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, the one that belonged to the hand he didn't touch the lint with. If he rubbed his nose with the other hand, that would've sent him into a sneezing fit.

Lumpy washed his hands again at the sink, then grabbed a tissue and blew his nose. The nose blow felt good, and he smiled as he wiped his nose. He threw away the tissue and went to set the dryer and start it up.

Lumpy went upstairs into the bathroom, where he took another shower to clean himself off and warm up. Twenty minutes later, Lumpy stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a towel. He dried himself off, then brushed his teeth and washed his mouth out with water.

When Lumpy was finished washing up, he went back over to the dryer. It had finished. Lumpy pulled out both of his pajamas and slipped them on. They were so warm and fresh, Lumpy was comfortable beyond description.

"Mmmmmm~" Lumpy hugged himself, surrounding himself with warmth. He closed the dryer, leaving everything else inside as he shut off all of the lights in his house. He could see that it was totally dark outside.

Lumpy then went upstairs into his bedroom. He took one look at his bed and yawned deeply into his hand. He went over to the bed and stepped in, pulling the covers over himself.

Lumpy turned to his pillow and pressed his hands against it to fluff it up. Finally, he turned off the light and lay there on his back, his head upon the soft pillow and arms underneath the covers. After a few minutes, his eyelids fell closed and he began to snore. Over his snoring, he could hear the wind howling outside.


	3. Christmas Eve

It was Christmas Eve morning, and once again, it had snowed overnight. As he had been the night before, Lumpy was still sleeping in his bed. When the clock reached seven, however, his eyes slowly opened. He sat up in bed, stretching one of his arms as he yawned into his other hand. It was cold this morning, but the blue moose didn't mind.

He sat on the edge of the bed, then stepped off. Lumpy unbuttoned his pajama top and placed it on the bed, then he slipped off his pajama bottoms and placed them on the bed as well. He walked over to the window, pulled the curtains open and looked outside through the closed window. The ground was covered with snow for the third time this week. Lumpy smiled, not only because of the snow, but because he'd remembered it was Christmas Eve.

Lumpy left his bedroom, went into the bathroom and took a shower. Once he was finished cleaning himself off and warming himself up, Lumpy stepped out, dried himself off, brushed his teeth and put on some odorless deodorant. Then he walked out of the bathroom and went downstairs.

He walked over to the dryer and opened it up, revealing the clothes he had left there yesterday. He pulled them out and folded each clothing item up, one by one. He put everything in a hamper and carried it upstairs to his bedroom. Then he put all of his clothes away in the dressers where they belonged. The handkerchiefs went on top of the dresser so he could find them easily.

However, it then occurred to Lumpy that he made plans to go Christmas shopping today. It was going to be even colder than yesterday today. Better get dressed, he thought. He opened up one of the dressers and pulled out a red sweater. He shook it out a few times to air it out, then slipped it on. Like he did yesterday with a different sweater, he managed to get it over his antlers with ease. Pulling the bottom of the sweater over his belly, he sighed comfortably from the warmth.

Next, Lumpy pulled out a pair of pants that were the same material of his sweater. This was the same color as the pants he'd worn yesterday, but they were a different pair; Lumpy had several of the same pair of pants. He put these pants on one leg at a time.

Then Lumpy opened his sock drawer and pulled out two fluffy red socks. He slipped one over his left foot, then the other over his right foot, pulling the aforementioned socks up over his ankles when he was finished. Then he retrieved his snow boots from yesterday and put his feet into them as well.

Lumpy then looked into the mirror and thought for a moment. "Hmm, I think something's missing..."

"Oh! Of course!" Lumpy said with a smile.

He closed the two drawers that were open, then opened the one that had the scarves inside. He pulled out a dark blue scarf, matching the sky at night. He wrapped it around his neck, then picked up a knit hat. This wasn't the same one from two days ago, but a red and white one. He slipped it over his head, then looked in the mirror again.

"Mm-hmm." Lumpy nodded in satisfaction. He was confident that he would be warm enough. That being said, he was likely going to sneeze a few times while he was out. Luckily, Lumpy got an idea on how to fix that.

Lumpy looked at the several folded handkerchiefs on his dresser, and took one of each. He gently inserted them into his left pocket, but then saw that he had a dark blue purse on a nail in the wall.

"Hmm, when did I last use this?" Lumpy wondered. It must have been sitting there for at least a week. When Lumpy picked it up, he brushed it off to clean it, although there wasn't much dust on it or inside it. Out of curiosity, Lumpy zipped open the little bag and reached his hand inside, only to find a little pack of tissues. It hadn't even been opened yet.

Lumpy smiled. He had decided this was a more convenient place to carry his hankies. He replaced the pack of tissues, then moved the hankies out of his pocket into the bag. But just in case, he placed an additional white handkerchief inside, then zipped it shut. He held the purse over one arm, then walked over to his smartphone. It had been charging all morning, and was now at 100%. He unplugged it and put it in his left pocket, then walked out of the bedroom.

Lumpy climbed down the stairs and went into the kitchen, where his wallet sat on the counter. He picked it up and looked through it to see how much money he had. He had $500.

Lumpy had the kind of job that paid him once every Friday. He worked from 9 AM to 5 PM, about 40 hours a week if he didn't count Saturdays and Sundays. That was because every employee there, including him, earned about two dollars and 50 cents for every hour they worked. And so on every Friday, his boss handed him a check for $100 at the end of the day. For the past four weeks, Lumpy never missed a chance to cash those checks in.

That being said, his boss had announced the week before that he was temporarily letting everyone off for Christmas vacation. They didn't have to come back until a couple days after New Year's. They even got to take Friday off, receiving their checks on Thursday at the end of the day instead. To Lumpy's secret delight, he had gotten his usual check for $100, despite that he wouldn't work Friday.

So here Lumpy was, counting his dollar bills one more time to make sure he really had as much as he thought. He did; it was just enough for what he wanted to buy for his friends and family. Lumpy placed his wallet in his right pocket, then picked up his car keys and went over to the front door. He placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open.

As Lumpy headed outside, he shut the door behind him and looked out at the blankets of snow covering the lawns and streets. It probably wasn't going to be easy, driving on that snow... but Lumpy had driven in that situation before. All he had to do was pay close attention and he would go right through it with ease.

Lumpy headed out to his car, which had a bit of snow covering it. Lumpy brushed it all off easily, unlocked his car door and stepped in. After placing his purse in the passenger seat, Lumpy fastened his seatbelt, placed his car key in the slot, and started the engine up. He turned the heat up, then pulled the lever and pulled out of the driveway.

Lumpy's drive was a bit bumpy due to how much snow was in the road. But Lumpy was a good driver and avoided going too fast or taking his eyes off the road, lest something happen. Finally, he made it to the general store in town. Lumpy killed the engine, picked up his purse, unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

Then he went up onto the sidewalk and looked up at the store. It was even larger than he remembered it being, and that was probably the same for the inside. As Lumpy stood where he was, his nose tickled due to the cold air. He unzipped his purse, pulled out his light blue handkerchief and covered his nose with it, just as he was about to sneeze.

"Ah, ah... Ah-choooo!" Lumpy bent his upper body forwards as he sneezed into the handkerchief. He then stood back up, wiping his nose with the handkerchief and giving a quick sniffle. "Scuse me." He put his hanky back in his purse, zipped it back up and went into the store.

The store was filled with shelves holding items on sale, and customers were walking around as well. Lumpy retrieved one of the remaining shopping carts and proceeded onto an aisle.

"I'll start with what to buy for my mom and dad," thought Lumpy. He tried to think of what to buy. "Hmm..."

Lumpy looked through the selection of products that were available. He picked something up and looked at it.

"Mmm, I don't think they'd like this." He put it back, then picked up something else. "Nah, too expensive." He put that down, too, and picked up a third item. "No, what would they need this for?"

Just as he put that down as well, however, he saw something that caused his eyes to widen in happiness. He went over to it and picked it up: a box of hot chocolate. It had enough cocoa mix to serve three people.

"Both my mom and dad love this!" said Lumpy. "And I love it, too! I think we used to drink this on Christmas when I was little..." He looked at the price tag. It was on sale for $1.49. "Perfect!" He placed it in the cart and exited the aisle.

As he headed into the next aisle, Lumpy browsed another selection of products. He decided to get a bottle of unsweetened tea for Marilyn, and some coffee mix for Lumpward. As Lumpy exited the aisle, however, he saw that there was a small variety of stuffed animals for sale. Lumpy walked over to them and looked through them.

Although all of the plush toys looked adorable, Lumpy picked up a particularly cute one. It was of a white cat with green eyes, a pink nose, and it was wearing a red and green striped scarf. Lumpy smiled and placed it in the cart.

"My mom will love this," thought Lumpy. "I wonder if she had a cat at some point that looked like that..."

Lumpy then looked over at a dinnerware aisle that contained a variety of plates, bowls, cups and the like. Lumpy decided both of his parents had enough of those, but then he saw a mug aisle. Two of the mugs in particular - although they were boxed - had pictures of the mugs that were inside. They had the words "World's best mom" and "World's best dad" on them, respectively. The former was pink, the latter blue. Lumpy smiled, picked up the mug boxes and placed them gently in the cart.

Lumpy wasn't sure what else to get, so he proceeded onto the clothing aisle. Aside from shirts, pants and socks among other things, there were also scarves. Lumpy couldn't help but wonder if his parents ever wore scarves. But when he saw a pink scarf with white flowers on sale, he couldn't help but take it. It was so cute, why wouldn't Marilyn like it? Lumpy also saw a dark green scarf with gray horseshoes on it. He decided to take it as well, assuming it would bring Lumpward back to the good old days.

"Okay, I think that's enough for Mom and Dad," said Lumpy. "Hmm, what would Sniffles like for Christmas? I know he likes sneezing, and tickling..."

Lumpy decided that some new feathers would be a good gift for Sniffles. He proceeded onto the craft aisle, finding things like paintbrushes and glitter. Finally, however, he found some brightly colored craft feathers that he picked up and put in the cart. He had the tickling aspect taken care of, but what about the sneezing aspect?

Lumpy walked out of the aisle and went straight into the seasoning aisle. If there's one thing that can be bought and is good at making people sneeze, thought Lumpy, it should be found right here.

"Ginger... Thyme... Sage..." Lumpy muttered as he looked through the spices. But finally, he found what he was looking for. "Aha!" He picked it up, a familiar-looking shaker. "Black pepper!"

He put the pepper in the cart and went out of the aisle. Suddenly, however, it occurred to Lumpy that he hadn't gotten anything for Missie, Lillipup or Bunnelby. Lumpy picked up a basket and headed into the pet aisle.

He picked up some chicken treats for Missie, a squeaky bone for Lillipup, and a little pack of fresh carrots for Bunnelby. And just like that, Lumpy was back at his cart with everything he needed.

He proceeded onto the checkout aisle, where he greeted the clerk - a female Generic Tree Friend. One by one, he handed in his items.

"Oh, and while you're at it, may I also have some wrapping paper and three gift bags?" Lumpy asked.

"Certainly, sir," the Generic Tree Friend said with a smile.

"I'd like two medium-sized gift bags and one small gift bag, by the way," Lumpy corrected himself.

The Generic Tree Friend reached over and handed him everything he requested. She scanned these items as well and told him the total cost. It wasn't even a hundred dollars, but Lumpy handed her a single hundred dollar bill anyway.

"Thank you very much!" said the Generic Tree Friend. She opened up the register and placed the dollar bill inside. She handed Lumpy his change.

"Thank you, too," said Lumpy with a smile. He put the extra dollar bills in his wallet and the coins in his pocket.

Lumpy briefly left to put his basket away while the clerk put Lumpy's purchases in plastic bags. He placed them in the cart so it would be easier to bring them to the car.

"You have a Merry Christmas, sir," said the Generic Tree Friend.

"Thank you!" Lumpy said as he headed out of the store.

When he made it out to the car, he placed all of his purchases inside, most of them in the back seat. The cart now empty, he put it back where the next person could get it and stepped into his car. He fastened his seatbelt, placed his car key in the slot, and started the engine. He drove away from the store and headed back home.

"Ah, that wasn't so hard," said Lumpy. "Mom, Dad, Sniffles and my pets will be so happy when I give them their presents tomorrow."

Soon Lumpy made it back home and pulled into the driveway. He killed the engine, opened the car door and stepped out. He took his handkerchief bag, briefly went inside to place it on the couch, and then headed back outside to the car. Opening the back doors, he began to take his bagged purchases inside the house. It took him a few trips, but finally everything was inside.

Lumpy wrapped up all of his presents - or at least, everything except the feathers and pepper - with the wrapping paper, one by one. He made sure to put a tag on each present so he could tell what went to who. He also wrote on the tags belonging to the gift bags; one of the medium-sized gift bags was addressed to Marilyn, the other to Lumpward. The small gift bag was addressed to Sniffles, and in it went the bag of feathers and pepper shaker. Lumpy placed the flower scarf, "world's best mom" mug, tea and stuffed cat in Marilyn's bag, while the horseshoe scarf, "world's best dad" mug, and coffee went in Lumpward's bag. He also wrapped up his pets' presents as well, making sure to write their names on them as well.

Finally, the work was done. Lumpy placed every present he had wrapped underneath the Christmas tree in the living room. Lumpy took a deep breath and sighed with relief. He took off his boots, socks and his scarf, then pulled off his sweater and pants - but not before removing the change, his wallet and phone from his pants pocket. He walked over to his piggy bank, which was light blue and had a rubber stopper on the bottom, and placed every single coin that was in his hand into the bank.

Then Lumpy went back over to his clothes - not including his boots - and picked them up before he carried them to the laundry hamper. He placed them inside, then dusted his hands off. Finally, Lumpy picked up his handkerchief bag, went upstairs, walked into his bedroom and tossed his bag on the bed. He then lazily lay down on his bed, wiping his forehead off with his hand.

"Phew! I got everything done," Lumpy mused. "And it's not even dinnertime yet!"

"But..." Lumpy then told himself, "I still have plenty of time before I need to go to bed. What should I do?"

Lumpy thought for a few minutes, looking around his room as he did so. Finally he remembered something, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I think I'll do something I enjoy doing most," said Lumpy.

He got off his bed and went over to his desk, where his computer, keyboard and mouse were. He placed his hand on the drawer knob on the desk and pulled backward, opening it. Aside from a lot of pencils, erasers and other writing tools, there was also Lumpy's quill feather. He still remembered that year on his birthday, when Cuddles had given it to him just as Lumpy was commenting on a tickle in his nose. Lumpy appreciated it, as he thought having one of these around could be useful.

Lumpy reached into the drawer and pulled out the quill. He closed his desk and sat where he was, looking at the quill in his hand. It looked so soft, so tickly... Lumpy brushed the feather on the underside of his snout, giggling as he did so. But as he tickled, his nostrils flared up a little.

"Hehe, hehehehehe!" Lumpy giggled. "H-heh... ehh..." He pulled the feather away from his nose, feeling a sneeze coming on. He tilted his neck back and gave a mild sneeze. "Hehhh-choo!"

Lumpy giggled some more as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. He stood up from his desk, went back over to his bed and lay back down on it. Holding the quill by the end that was used for writing, Lumpy wiggled the feather upon his tummy, laughing from how much it tickled.

"Hahahaha, hahahahahaha!" He inserted the tip of the quill into his belly button, tickling himself even more. "HAHAHA!" He moved it around, which amplified the tickle. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After a few seconds, Lumpy removed the quill from his belly button, but then brushed the side of the feather upon one of his sides. He tried to resist laughing, but he just couldn't.

"Ahahahahahaha! It tickles!" Lumpy admitted, as though someone else were tickling him. "Hahahahahaha!"

Having had enough, Lumpy stopped tickling his side and removed his quill from it. Just then, Lumpy got a great idea and smiled even more than he was now. He pulled up his right foot, and lightly stroked the tip of the feather upon his sole.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy cringed and laughed hard for a few seconds, curling his toes as he did so. Holding onto his ankle with his free hand, he tickled his foot again, stroking his quill up and down his sole. And that caused himself to laugh even more. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lumpy didn't want to stop tickling himself, he was enjoying it too much. But the tickling sensation was just so strong, he couldn't go longer than a few seconds. He removed his quill from his foot, panting repeatedly as he tried to catch his breath. When he had calmed down, he inserted the side of quill in between his toes. Just doing that made him smirk involuntarily, but then he swiped it out of his toes, causing himself to laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy curled his toes as he squirmed around a little. This had to have been the strongest tickle he could make himself feel. Lumpy again inserted the feather in between his toes and swiped it out, but did it more slowly so the tickle wouldn't be so intense. "Hehehehehehehehe!"

It still tickled, however, so he pulled his quill away from his foot and let go of his ankle. He lay there on the bed, quill in hand as he blushed hard and panted. Once he'd caught his breath again, he looked over at his feather and brushed it against his neck.

"Hahaha, hehehehehehe!" After a few seconds of that, Lumpy tickled underneath his chin, and his laughter continued. "Hehehehehe! Hehehehehehehe!"

These tickles weren't nearly as strong as they had been, but Lumpy enjoyed them just the same. As he continued tickling himself, however, his Lillipup emerged from his Pokeball. He saw his trainer tickling himself and tilted his head in curiosity.

As Lumpy was still tickling his chin, he saw that Lillipup was watching him. He stopped tickling himself and pulled the quill away from his face as he looked down at Lillipup.

"Oh, hey, Lillipup," said Lumpy. "I'm just tickling myself with this feather, and having a great time."

Suddenly an idea came to Lumpy. He sat up on the edge of the bed, and patted the mattress he was sitting on, gesturing Lillipup to get on the bed with him. The little Puppy Pokemon understood and hopped onto the bed, not knowing what he was in for.

Lumpy grinned and brought the quill feather up for Lillipup to see, waving it around slightly. He began to wiggle it on the side of Lillipup's neck, causing him to pant in enjoyment. Lumpy tickled the other side of his neck, followed by his chin, causing Lillipup to pant even more. Lumpy removed the feather from his puppy's chin, thought for a moment, and then stroked the underside of Lillipup's tummy with the feather. Lillipup started laughing like a puppy - it was hard to transcribe, but it sounded very cute. He rolled over on his back, making it easier for Lumpy to wiggle his quill on his belly.

"Tickle, tickle! Hehehe!" Lumpy teased his puppy, giggling along with his laughter as he kept tickling his tummy.

After about ten seconds, Lumpy decided to give Lillipup a break and pulled the feather away from his belly. Lillipup lay back down on his belly, panting a few times to catch his breath. The smile on his face, however, told Lumpy that he loved it.

"I never knew you were ticklish, Lillipup," said Lumpy.

Soon Lillipup caught his breath and sat up. With a mischievous smile, Lumpy wiggled his quill underneath Lillipup's nose. Instead of laughing or panting, however, Lillipup's nose twitched as his eyelids fell halfway shut. His mouth fell open as his breath hitched.

"Eh... Hah... Ah... heh-chu!" Lillipup's neck lunged forwards as he released a tiny sneeze, then shook his head. Lumpy couldn't help but smile and giggle.

"Hehehe! Sorry, buddy, I just wanted to have some fun," Lumpy apologized. Lillipup rubbed his front paw underneath his nose, but gave a little bark to show he forgave him.

"Say..." Lumpy then said as an idea came to him. "You don't suppose Bunnelby is ticklish, too, do you?"

Lumpy got off his bed and walked over to the dresser, which held Bunnelby's Pokeball. He pressed the button, causing it to become its normal size, and then threw it at the floor. The Pokeball opened to reveal a flash, which soon faded away to reveal Lumpy's Bunnelby.

"Hey, Bunnelby," Lumpy said, causing Bunnelby to look up at him, "how'd you like to play for a little bit?"

Bunnelby smiled in excitement and nodded.

"Okay, then." Lumpy raised his quill to Bunnelby's ear and stroked it a little, but Bunnelby felt this and moved his ear away. Lumpy moved his feather down to Bunnelby's side and stroked up and down gently, causing Bunnelby to giggle.

"Hehehe, hahahahaha! Ahaha!" Bunnelby's laughter was barely audible, but Lumpy heard it. He smiled and moved his feather over to Bunnelby's belly, causing him to laugh more. "Hahahahahahaha!"

"Aww!" Lumpy said to himself. He kept tickling the rabbit Pokemon's belly, teasing him a little as he did so. "Tickle-tickle-tickle~!"

"Hahahaha, hahahahahaha!" Bunnelby kept laughing for a few seconds, then hopped backward to get away from Lumpy's feather. And there he stood, panting and blushing slightly.

"What's the matter? Are you ticklish?" Lumpy asked playfully. The Bunnelby simply blushed more. "I'm sorry, little guy. Tickling is something I do for fun..."

"But I'll tell you what," Lumpy then said. "If you let me tickle your nose just once, I'll let you and Lillipup tickle me. Okay?"

Bunnelby stopped panting and nodded. Lumpy smiled and caressed Bunnelby's nose with the tip of his feather. Bunnelby's pupils shrunk as his pink nose twitched, his nostrils flaring up slightly. After a few seconds had gone by, Bunnelby's eyelids lowered halfway and he inhaled. He was going to sneeze.

"Hh... hhh... Hhheeeh-" Bunnelby's eyes squeezed shut as he tilted his neck as far back as it could go. And finally, he sneezed, shooting his head downwards and covering his mouth with both paws. "Ttttchyew!"

Lumpy pulled the feather away from Bunnelby's nose when he heard the sneeze. But then he smiled and giggled. That had been a cute sneeze. Bunnelby removed his paws from his mouth and rubbed one paw underneath his nose to help it recover from the tickle.

"Bless you, Bunnelby," said Lumpy. The Bunnelby didn't know what the first two words meant, so he kept rubbing his nose for a few seconds.

Lumpy went back over to the bed and sat back down on it, being careful not to hit Lillipup.

"Okay, guys!" he said to Lillipup and Bunnelby. "If you wanna tickle me, I'm ready!"

Bunnelby hopped over to Lumpy and jumped into his lap. He placed his front paws on Lumpy's belly and began to wiggle them about, making Lumpy laugh.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Lumpy squirmed around a little, but stayed sitting up to make it easy for Bunnelby to tickle him. Bunnelby pulled his paws away from Lumpy's belly, but then tickled his ribcage with one of his ears. "HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

"B-BUNNELBYHYHYHY! I'd rather you use your paws or my feather than that, PLEHEHEHEASE!" Lumpy said. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

Bunnelby heard this and obliged, pulling his ear away from Lumpy's ribcage. Then, however, he pulled Lumpy's quill out of his hand and started stroking it against his tummy. Lumpy started laughing again.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT- IT TICKLES! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

At the same time, Lillipup jumped down to Lumpy's feet, placed both paws on his soles and stroked up and down. The sensation tickled Lumpy even more.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" As much as it tickled, Lumpy was enjoying every moment of this. He was glad he decided to bring his Pokemon out for this little tickling session. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After about thirty seconds of tickling Lumpy's belly and feet, Bunnelby and Lillipup decided to give him a break. Bunnelby removed the quill from his belly and hopped off his lap, while Lillipup took his paws off his feet. Lumpy lay there, panting, sweating, blushing and looking like he had had a great time.

"Th-thanks... guys..." Lumpy said to both of his Pokemon. "I... I think I've... had enough."

He gently took his quill back from Bunnelby's paws, petted the top of his head to thank him, then weakly got up to put his quill back in his desk drawer. Lumpy then looked up at the clock and saw that it was 4:59 PM. But as soon as he looked at the time, it changed to 5:00 PM.

"I better get your dinner ready," Lumpy said to his Pokemon.

Lumpy walked out of his bedroom and went downstairs into the kitchen, while Lillipup and Bunnelby followed him from behind. When Lumpy made it into the kitchen, he saw Missie sleeping in front of one of the counters. He smiled, pulled out a couple of red and blue pet dishes and put them on the counter. Lumpy then pulled out a bag of Pokemon kibble and filled both of the dishes with it. He then left them as Lillipup climbed up one of the chairs and jumped onto the counter, while Bunnelby hopped straight onto it. Lillipup ate from the red pet dish while Bunnelby ate from the blue one.

Lumpy then pulled out a pink pet dish for Missie. He picked up a can of cat food as well as a can opener, which he used to cut the top of the can open. He poured the can into the pet dish, then tossed the can in the trash and put the pet dish down in front of Missie. Missie kept sleeping for a moment, then opened her eyes, sat up and saw her food dish. She happily went up to it and began eating.

Now that all of Lumpy's pets were fed, Lumpy opened the cupboard, pulled out a box of macaroni and cheese, and placed it on the counter next to the stove. He then pulled out a clean pot, filled it with water and placed it on the stove. He read the directions on the box and added in macaroni, cheese and a cup of fresh milk from the refrigerator. He then grabbed a wooden spoon and stirred a few times as he waited for his dinner to cook.

It took him a few minutes, but finally, it was ready. Lumpy scooped himself a bowl of macaroni and cheese, took a fork, and brought it as well as his bowl to the table. He sat down, picked up his fork, and took a single piece of macaroni into his mouth. It tasted good, but Lumpy thought it could use some flavoring. He picked up the clear pepper shaker and shook a little onto his food.

But as soon as the pepper came out, Lumpy felt a tickle in his nose. The scent of the pepper was just too much for him to take. He turned away from his food as his breath hitched.

"Ah... Aaaaah.. AaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH-" Lumpy tilted his neck far back, and then sneezed loudly. It was enough to catch Missie and Lillipup off-guard, although Bunnelby cringed in surprise as well. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Meow!" Missie meowed to bless Lumpy.

"Arf!" And Lillipup barked to tell Lumpy the same thing.

Lumpy blushed as he sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Sorry, guys..." he apologized. "I'm okay, I just sneezed from the pepper. It happens a lot."

The pets all seemed to understand. Lumpy pulled his forefinger away from his nose, put down his pepper shaker, and resumed eating his macaroni and cheese. At least it tasted better with some pepper.

A few minutes later, Missie, Lillipup and Bunnelby were all done with their food. Lumpy was still eating, however, although he had much less left in his bowl than before. After a minute, he had finished the last of his macaroni and cheese. He placed his fork in his bowl, smiling contentedly as he lay back in his chair, one hand on his full tummy.

"Mmm, that was so good..." Lumpy said to himself. Suddenly he had a feeling in his belly, and gave a loud, "BUUUURP!"

Lumpy's burp caused Missie, Lillipup and Bunnelby to look at him, the latter two in surprise, and Missie in disgust. Lumpy placed his hands over his mouth in embarrassment.

"Excuse me," said Lumpy.

He picked up his dirty bowl and fork, stood up from the table and went over to the dishwasher. He opened it, placed the bowl and fork inside, and then closed it up.

"There's still lots of time before I need to go to bed," Lumpy told his pets. "So what would you guys like to do?"

No response from Lillipup, Bunnelby or Missie. Lumpy must have forgotten they couldn't talk. But Missie walked up to Lumpy, stood up on her hind legs and placed her paws on his sides. Lumpy couldn't help but smirk and giggle when she did that.

"Oh- Hehehehehe!"

In response to Lumpy's giggle, Missie started rubbing her paws against Lumpy's sides, which tickled him even more.

"Hahahahahaha, hahahahahahahahaha!" Lumpy wiggled around a little, then reached down, gently wrapped his arms around Missie, and pulled her up to his face so she would stop tickling him. Missie tried to escape, but couldn't.

"Aw, do you wanna give me some tickles, too?" Lumpy asked.

"Mew," Missie replied. She raised one of her paws up and touched Lumpy's nose with it. Lumpy winced and giggled a little.

"Hehehe... Be careful, I'm ticklish," Lumpy told her. He gently placed her on the counter and rubbed his sensitive nose with the side of his hand.

"Mew?" Missie tilted her head in curiosity. Lillipup and Bunnelby turned to look at Lumpy as well.

Lumpy gave a little sniff. "My nose is ticklish, too," he stated. "But you know what? Since I made you all sneeze - well, except for you, Missie - how would you all like to help me get my sneeze out?"

Lillipup and Bunnelby nodded, but Missie got a bit closer to Lumpy and tried to touch his nose again.

"Looks like you want in, too, don't you?" Lumpy asked his cat. "Alright, then. You can make me sneeze, too."

Missie purred in excitement, then turned around and brushed her gray, white-tipped tail against Lumpy's nose. Lumpy couldn't help but giggle from how much it tickled.

"Hehe, hahahahahaha!" But while he was giggling, his nose started to twitch even more, and his nostrils flared up. Lumpy was a little allergic to cats, but not allergic enough to sneeze when he was around one - after all, he wouldn't even have Missie if that were the case. But he was allergic enough that a teeny, tiny bit of cat hair tickling his nose could make him sneeze. So within seconds, Lumpy's breath began to hitch. "H-haaah... Aaaah... Ah, aaaaaaah..."

Missie continued to tickle her owner's nose, brushing her furry and tickly tail back and forth on his nose, while Lillipup and Bunnelby both looked on in anticipation. They knew exactly what was going to happen.

"HaaaaaaAAAAAAH-" Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as he could, nostrils flaring widely, and then exploded with a loud triple. "CHOO, HAH-CHOO, AAAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

By the time the third sneeze had made it out of Lumpy, his nostrils began to drip with clear mucus. Either it was that harsh, or it was just a side effect of Lumpy's little allergy. Either way, Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling loudly. He looked a bit relieved, however, now that he had sneezed.

"Meow," Missie said, as if blessing Lumpy.

"Thanks..." Lumpy continued to rub his nose.

Out of concern, Lillipup picked up a nearby box of tissues with his teeth and looked up at Lumpy. He looked over at him and smiled.

"Oh, thank you, Lillipup." Lumpy took a tissue and wiped the mucus off his nose, taking another sniffle afterwards to clear up his nasal passages. "I take it you want to go next?"

Lillipup put down the box of tissues and nodded. Lumpy put his tissue in his pocket for later, then gently picked Lillipup up and held him toward his face. Lillipup placed his paws on Lumpy's nose and moved them about, causing it to twitch again.

"Aaah..." Lumpy lightly inhaled, his nostrils flaring up, before he released a sprayless sneeze right onto Lillipup. "Ah-choo!"

Lillipup cringed, removed his paws and rubbed his face with them. Lumpy set Lillipup back on the counter and rubbed his nose again with his forefinger.

"Sorry, boy," Lumpy apologized. "That felt kinda good, though."

Lillipup shook his body after he'd finished trying to clean his face off. Then Lumpy looked down at Bunnelby.

"Now, Bunnelby," said Lumpy, "do you have something that can make me sneeze?"

Bunneby nodded, and then proceeded to rub one of his ears underneath Lumpy's nose. His ear was soft, but smelled like dirt and dust, as though Bunnelby had been digging recently. Lumpy could feel his nostrils flaring up again.

"Heh..." Lumpy sniffled a little. "I, I th-think I-I-I'm g... g-going to..." Another sniffle. "...sn... sn-snee... aaah... Haaaaah..."

Bunnelby continued to stroke Lumpy's nose with his ear, trying to help him get the sneeze out. Lumpy could feel his snout quivering again aside from his nostrils twitching; the scent of the dust from Bunnelby's ear probably wasn't making it any better.

"Hehhh... Ehhh... Aaaaaaah..." Lumpy tried not to move his neck so Bunnelby could keep tickling his nose, but he just couldn't help himself. He began to tilt his neck back. "Huuuuh... HaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAH..."

Bunnelby noticed that his ear was no longer tickling Lumpy's nose. He turned to look behind him, only to see Lumpy on the verge of a massive sneeze. Before he could do anything, Lumpy tilted his upper body as far back as he could, gave a massive inhale, and finally exploded.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released a gigantic sneeze, with huge amounts of spray escaping from his mouth. However, since he was too late to get out of the way, Bunnelby was sprayed quite heavily, and even found himself flying off the counter and onto the dining room floor. He sat up, shaking his head, and then started wiping his wet face with his paws.

Lumpy stood there, rubbing his nose with his forefinger and sniffling loudly. That had to have been the biggest sneeze he'd released this week. Just then, he saw that he had blown Bunnelby to the floor and gasped. He pulled his forefinger away from his nose and ran over to the unfortunate bunny Pokemon.

"Oh, my gosh! Bunnelby!" Lumpy reached down and picked him up. "I am so sorry! Are you alright?!"

The Bunnelby nodded and rubbed his eyes with his paws, still trying to get the spray off his face. Lumpy went over to the sink and placed Bunnelby next to it, then took a dish towel, held it under the faucet and turned on the tap. Cold water came flowing from the faucet onto the towel, and then he switched it off. Lumpy began to wash Bunnelby's face with the towel, and despite being a bit surprised, Bunnelby didn't try to escape or even resist.

"I am so, so very sorry," Lumpy apologized once more. "You made me let out quite the sneeze there! Please don't be mad at me, I couldn't help myself...!"

Although Bunnelby didn't respond, he wasn't mad at Lumpy. It was probably his own fault he made Lumpy need to sneeze so badly, but Lumpy didn't suspect that. Finally, Bunnelby's face was cleaned of Lumpy's spit, and Lumpy removed the dish towel from his face.

"I promise, that won't ever happen again," said Lumpy as he wrung out the towel before placing it on the handle of the stove. He then placed his forefinger underneath his nose with another loud sniffle. "Uuugh..."

Lumpy pulled out the tissue that had been in his pocket and blew his nose loudly into it. Feeling a bit better, he wiped his nose with the tissue afterwards.

"At least I don't have a cold, otherwise, you'd probably catch it," Lumpy said to Bunnelby. "Do you forgive me?" Bunnelby nodded, which made Lumpy smile. "Thank you."

He threw his tissue away, picked up Bunnelby and gave him a big hug, which Bunnelby immediately shared. After a couple minutes of hugging, Lumpy looked over at the clock on the stove. It was almost 9:00 PM.

"I'm gonna get ready for bed now," he told his Pokemon and cat.

Lumpy placed Bunnelby down on the floor, then went upstairs. He went to the bathroom, took a shower and brushed his teeth. Then he walked into the bedroom, where he pulled some dark blue pajamas out of the drawer and slipped them on. He put the top on first, then the bottom, before buttoning the top up.

Lumpy then went over to his bed, stepped in, pulled the covers over him and lay down. He took a deep inhale and sighed, just as Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie came into the room.

"Meow?" Missie asked.

"Arf?" Lillipup also asked.

Lumpy smiled. "Of course you guys can sleep in my bed. Come on in."

The pets smiled, with Missie jumping up onto the bed and kneading it contentedly. Lillipup and Bunnelby jumped onto Lumpy's bedsides, Lillipup on one and Bunnelby on the other. Their trainer stroked their heads gently as they crawled underneath the covers with them. Then Lumpy gave a tired yawn into his hand.

"Good night, guys," he said to all three of his pets. "See you in the morning."

And before long, Lumpy's eyelids had fallen closed and he was fast asleep in bed, as was Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie. Over Lumpy's snoring, everyone could hear the wind howling outside.


	4. Christmas Day

The sun was rising into the sky, changing its dark blue color to a much lighter shade of blue. The stars slowly faded out of view.

As he had been the night before, Lumpy was still sleeping in his bed, with his Lillipup and Bunnelby sharing the same blanket as his, while Missie was still asleep close to the end of the bed. Not long after the sun had gone up, however, Lumpy slowly opened his eyes. He sat up in bed, yawned into his hand and rubbed his eyes gently. He looked down at his Pokemon and cat, still sleeping.

As gently as he could, Lumpy picked up his sleeping Lillipup, which didn't even move in his arms. He sat on the edge of the bed, placed Lillipup closer to Bunnelby, and then stepped out of bed. Lumpy walked out of his bedroom as quietly as he could, then went into the bathroom. He took off his pajamas, put them in the hamper, then took a shower, brushed his teeth and put on some odorless deodorant before he headed downstairs. Out of pure curiosity, Lumpy looked in the living room to see if he had gotten any presents, but all he saw was the presents he had left there yesterday. However, there was also a note in the Christmas tree. Lumpy went over to the tree, picked up the note and looked at it.

"Dear Lumpy, although you've been good all year, I received a letter from your parents asking to do them a little... favor. I won't give too much away, but all you have to do is visit your parents' house. You have a Merry Christmas, my friend. Love, Santa."

Lumpy nodded in understanding and put the note back. He then picked up his presents for Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie and turned around. But just as he did so, he saw all three of his pets in front of him, looking up at him excitedly. Knowing what they wanted, Lumpy smiled, bent down and gave them their respective gifts. They all proceeded to open them, somehow without damaging what was inside.

Missie was delighted to receive the bag of chicken treats, Lillipup was very happy to receive the squeaky toy, and Bunnelby was overjoyed to receive the bag of carrots.

In fact, Lillipup and Bunnelby jumped into Lumpy's arms, and while Lillipup started licking Lumpy's face, Bunnelby snuggled up against Lumpy's chest. And on the floor, Missie rubbed herself against Lumpy's legs, purring happily. Lumpy smiled and giggled as he let them do so, feeling happy for himself as well as how appreciative they were.

"I'm glad you like my gifts, guys," said Lumpy. "But I have to go to my parents' house for Christmas soon. Okay?"

Lillipup and Bunnelby nodded in understanding, as did Missie. Lumpy gently put Lillipup and Bunnelby back down on the floor and petted their heads just as gently.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and get dressed," said Lumpy. "It's cold outside, and my parents want me to look nice."

Lumpy then went back over to the stairs and climbed them, leaving his pets with their presents in the living room. Lumpy returned to his bedroom, went over to the dresser and pulled one of them open. He reached into it and pulled out a light blue sweater, the same kind and color as the one he'd worn when he went to Sniffles' house. He slipped it on, somehow getting it over his antlers, and then pulled out one of his light blue pair of pants. He put them on one leg at a time, then closed the drawer.

He then opened the drawer that had the scarves inside, pulled out a red one and wrapped it around his neck. He then closed this drawer and looked into the mirror. With his sweater, pants and scarf, Lumpy looked like he would be warm enough for the weather. Seeing that he was barefoot, however, he then opened up his sock drawer and pulled out some large, fuzzy blue socks. He pulled one sock over one foot, then the other over the other foot. He then took his snow boots from the past two days and put them on as well, one at a time.

Lumpy looked into the mirror again and smiled. "I think I'm just about ready," said Lumpy to himself.

He picked up his smartphone, still with a high battery percentage with how little he'd used it recently, and put it in his pants pocket. Then picked up his handkerchief purse and put it over his arm. He hadn't even needed to sneeze yet, but better safe than sorry. Lumpy then headed out of his room and went down the stairs.

Lumpy picked up his gift bags that were for his mom and dad, as well as that one gift-wrapped box, then headed outside. He could already tell by the chill, the skies and looking at the ground that it had snowed once again. When it was Christmas time in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived, the temperature got so low that the snow that fell to the ground wouldn't melt for quite a few days. That was alright, however. It was winter, after all.

Lumpy opened the passenger door of his car, carefully placed his presents inside the front seat, and then closed the door. He then went back to the front door to get his car keys.

However, when he opened the door and stepped in, he saw Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie all waiting for him. Were they hungry? Lumpy decided to take care of that. After picking up his car keys, he went into the kitchen and filled his pets' food bowls, two with Pokemon kibble and one with cat food.

As Lumpy watched his Pokemon and cat eat their breakfast, a thought occurred to him. "Maybe I should bring Lillipup and Bunnelby to my mom and dad's house. I don't want them to get bored... and besides, I don't think Bunnelby has met my parents yet."

After a couple of minutes, Lillipup and Bunnelby were finished with their breakfast and stood where they were, licking their lips in satisfaction. Lumpy chose this time to ask them.

"Lillipup? Bunnelby?" The two Pokemon looked up at Lumpy. "How would you two like to come with me to my mom and dad's house for Christmas?" As soon as he finished asking that, they smiled.

"But if you two are going to come with me, you'll both have to behave yourselves," Lumpy went on. "Will you do that, please?"

The Pokemon both nodded, letting Lumpy know that they would do that. Lumpy smiled, pulled out their Pokeballs and recalled them.

"Lillipup, return!" Lillipup was returned first, then Bunnelby. "Bunnelby, return!"

With both of the Pokemon safe in their Pokeballs, Lumpy placed them in his pants pocket. Then he looked down at Missie, who had also finished her breakfast and was now licking herself contentedly.

"Missie, sweetie?" Lumpy asked to get her attention. "I'm gonna go somewhere for a few hours. I'd like to bring you, but I know how much you hate the pet carrier..."

Missie visibly cringed when he mentioned that.

"So I'll let you stay home alone." Lumpy said. "I know you just ate, but you can have some of those chicken treats I gave you if you want a snack. And if you need to go outside, there's the pet door in the front door, and the litter box is in the bathroom if you need to... ahem, go."

"So can I trust you to be here by yourself without making a mess?" Lumpy asked.

Missie took his every word in, then nodded. Lumpy smiled, bent down and petted the top of Missie's head, making her purr.

"Good kitty." Lumpy then stood back up and walked over to the front door.

Once he'd made it there, Missie followed him to the door. Lumpy placed his hand on the doorknob and waved his other hand to Missie. The white and gray cat watched as he then turned the knob, pushed the door open, went outside and closed the door behind him.

Missie sat where she was and licked her paws. She didn't mind being home alone, nor was this the first time this had happened. She was going to be just fine.

Lumpy went out to the car, opened the car door, and got in. He shut the door, put on his seatbelt, and placed his car key in the slot. He started the engine, backed out of the driveway and drove away from his house.

It was a bit of a bumpy drive from Lumpy's house to his mother and father's, but it wasn't too bad. When Lumpy finally made it to his parents' house, he parked his car in front, then killed the engine and pulled out his car keys. He opened the car door, stepped out, and then went over to the passenger door to retrieve the presents that had been waiting in the front seat. With the bags in one hand and the box in the other, Lumpy shut the door and went up to the front door.

He used his forefinger on the hand that was holding the bags to ring the doorbell, then waited. After a couple of seconds, the door opened to reveal Marilyn.

"Hey, Mom!" Lumpy greeted her.

Marilyn gasped and smiled in joy. "Lumpy! Oh, you made it! Come on in, darling." She moved out of the way so Lumpy could come in. "And are those presents, for us?"

"Yes, they are," Lumpy said. He went inside and looked around. "Hey, where's the tree?"

Marilyn pointed to a Christmas tree in the corner of the room. "It's over there, honey."

Lumpy smiled, went over to the tree, and bent over to put down the gift bags underneath it, along with the box. He stood back up, but then smiled in delighted surprise. Under the Christmas tree, besides his own presents for his parents, were at least a dozen gifts, many of which clearly had the word "Lumpy" written on the tag to indicate they were his.

Lumpy was so happy that he couldn't get a lot of words out. A tear of joy formed in his right eye. "Oh, my... I... did he really... come here... just like in that note he left me...?"

Marilyn went up to him and gave him a warm hug from behind, making him blush and smile even more. "Merry Christmas, Lumpy."

Lumpy turned and hugged his mother as well. "You, too, Mom."

They let go after about a minute of hugging, but Marilyn held her son's hands in her own.

"By the way, where's Dad?" Lumpy wanted to know.

"He'll be up soon," Marilyn promised. "It always takes him a bit to get ready for the day on Christmas. But as soon as he comes downstairs, we'll open our presents from you."

"I understand," said Lumpy. What Marilyn had told him was something she had told him every year on Christmas, and with the exception of when he was a child, he always obeyed. Sometimes it was a bit hard to do, but he still managed.

As Lumpy kept his smile, however, he felt a tickle in his nose, and his snout quivered slightly but noticeably. Knowing what was about to happen, he gently pulled his hands out from his mother's grasp as he began to inhale, tilting his neck backwards. "Ah... Haaah..."

"Hmm?" Marilyn raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Lumpy, darling?"

"Aaaaaah..." Lumpy pulled out a white handkerchief from his purse, then covered his nose with it as he finally released the sneeze. "Chooooooo!"

The sneeze was held out for a couple of seconds, but it wasn't powerful or excessively loud. It did surprise Marilyn, however, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

Almost as soon as Lumpy had recovered from the sneeze, he suddenly let out another one, keeping his handkerchief over his nose as he did so. "Hah-choo!"

Lumpy then turned back to his mother, removed his handkerchief, and rubbed his nose politely with his forefinger.

"Excuse me..." Lumpy said as he blushed in embarrassment.

"It's alright, darling," Marilyn said with a smile. "And bless you."

"Thanks." Lumpy sniffled as he continued to rub his nose for a few moments, and then wiped it with his handkerchief for a few seconds.

"Are you feeling alright?" Marilyn wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Lumpy. He pulled his handkerchief away from his nose for the second time. "The truth is, I sneeze when I'm happy."

"Oh." Marilyn chuckled a bit.

Lumpy put his handkerchief back in his purse, then zipped it back up. "But I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be great," said Lumpy.

"So do I, sweetie," Marilyn replied.

After she'd said that, Lumpward finally walked into the living room, wearing a dark green bathrobe. He yawned quietly but deeply into his hand, then rubbed one of his eyes with it.

"Good morning, Dad!" Lumpy said. "Merry Christmas."

"Hey, son," Lumpward replied. "You're here already?" Lumpy nodded in excitement. "You look awfully excited."

"Oh, he is, Lumpward," said Marilyn. He turned to Lumpy. "Well, Lumpy, now that your father's up, how would you like us to open the presents you brought for us?"

"Of course!" Lumpy said with a smile.

He took the gift bag that was meant for Marilyn and handed it to her. She smiled warmly and sat down on the couch to open her gift, with Lumpy sitting down next to her.

Marilyn reached into the bag, felt something soft, then pulled it out to look at it. It was the pink, flowery scarf that Lumpy had bought for her at the store. Marilyn smiled.

"Oh, Lumpy, it's beautiful!" said Marilyn.

"It sure is," said Lumpy as he smiled at her reaction. "I wanted to buy that for you because I love scarves. Oh, but mostly because I want you to stay warm all winter."

"Thank you so much, Lumpy!" Marilyn replied. She gently wrapped the scarf around her neck. "How does it look?"

"Looks really good," Lumpy said, truthfully.

Marilyn pulled out a little pocket mirror, opened it and looked at herself wearing the scarf. She smiled. "Oh, it's just lovely!" She closed the mirror and looked at Lumpy appreciatively. "In fact, I might even have it on all day."

Lumpy chuckled. "I'm glad you love it, Mom. But there's a little more in there if you're interested..." He pointed to the gift bag.

Marilyn put away her pocket mirror and reached into the bag once more. What she felt then was what seemed to be a plastic container. She pulled it out to reveal the bottle of unsweetened tea that Lumpy had bought for her.

"Oh, my favorite!" Marilyn said. "And what a surprise, I was just running out of this!"

"You were?" Lumpy asked, but Marilyn giggled in response.

"Well, I wasn't completely out of it, but I'm so happy you got me some more," Marilyn said. "Thank you, Lumpy!" She nuzzled Lumpy's face affectionately. Lumpy didn't mind, but he blushed a bit; it had been so many years since she last did this.

"No problem, Mom," said Lumpy.

Marilyn placed her bottle of tea aside, then reached into her gift bag once again. She felt a box this time, so she pulled it out. It was the "world's best mom" mug that Lumpy had bought for her. Marilyn blushed when she read what was on it.

"Aw, you really think so?" Marilyn asked Lumpy.

"Absolutely." Lumpy gave a single nod.

"Thank you so much, Lumpy," said Marilyn. "If only there was a 'world's best son' mug, I would definitely buy one for you."

"Oh, that's alright," said Lumpy. "But that would be so sweet."

"By the way, there's one last thing in there..." Lumpy pointed to the bag one more time. "I think I made the right decision on what to get you."

Marilyn put down her mug, then reached into the bag for the final time. She felt something soft and fuzzy, a bit similar to her scarf. She pulled out the object, looked at it and gasped in surprise. It was the stuffed cat that Lumpy had bought for her at the store.

"Awwww!" Marilyn brought the cat up to her cheek and gave it a hug. "Lumpy, it's absolutely adorable!"

"I knew you'd love that," said Lumpy, "that's why I bought it."

"Oh, Lumpy, that is so sweet and thoughtful of you!" Marilyn said. She put down her stuffed cat, then hugged Lumpy once again. "Thank you so, so very much, my darling!"

Lumpy smiled and hugged her in return. "You're welcome."

When they finally let go, Lumpy picked up the gift bag that was for Lumpward and handed it to him.

"Here you go, Dad," said Lumpy.

Lumpward reached into the gift bag, felt something soft and pulled it out. When he looked at it, he saw that it was the horseshoe scarf that Lumpy had bought at the store.

"Hey, this looks familiar..." said Lumpward.

"It does?" Lumpy asked.

Lumpward looked at the scarf for quite a few seconds. Finally, he smiled in realization.

"This looks just like the scarf I wore before I met Marilyn!" Lumpward said. He wrapped it around his neck, causing Marilyn to blush.

"Oh, Lumpward, you look so handsome!" Marilyn commented.

"You know, you kind of do," Lumpy agreed.

"Thanks, sonny," Lumpward replied, both for the compliment and for giving him the scarf. "Anything else in that bag?"

"Yeah, there's a couple of things..." Lumpy said.

Lumpward reached into the bag, felt around for something and felt a smaller bag. He pulled it out and looked at it, revealing the bag of coffee mix Lumpy had bought at the store.

"Hey, thanks, Lumpy," said Lumpward. "You knew how much I loved coffee, didn't you?"

"I guess I did," Lumpy said with a chuckle.

Lumpward put the bag of coffee mix aside and reached into the gift bag one last time. He felt a box and pulled it out, only to see that it was the "world's best dad" mug that Lumpy had bought for him.

"Ya really think that?" Lumpward asked. "Ya think I'm the world's best dad?"

"Well, yeah," Lumpy said. "And I might have also bought that to go with the mug I bought for Mom..."

Lumpward put his mug aside, stood up and went over to Lumpy. For a moment, they just looked at one another, but then Lumpward wrapped his arms around Lumpy for a hug.

"Thanks a lot, sonny! Those were the best gifts I ever got!" said Lumpward.

Lumpy was a bit surprised from the sudden hug, but smiled and returned the favor. "Don't mention it, Dad."

Lumpward let go of Lumpy and smiled at him before he removed his hands from his shoulders.

"Well, Lumpy, since you got us such wonderful gifts," Marilyn said, "how would you like to open the presents Santa brought here for you?"

Lumpy smiled in delight at just the idea. "Absolutely!"

He went over to the Christmas tree, kneeled down in front of the gifts and rubbed his hands together in excitement. He picked up one of the presents and removed the wrapping paper from it. It was Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Nintendo Wii.

"Oh, my gosh!" said Lumpy.

"What is it, Lumpy?" Marilyn asked as she went to see what the game was.

"It's that game where Kirby and everyone else is made of yarn," Lumpy said. "But at your age, it's probably not something you're familiar with..."

"It's alright, Lumpy," said Marilyn. "It looks simply adorable."

"It sure does," Lumpy said. "That's actually why I wanted it so much."

He put the game aside, picked up another present and removed the wrapping paper from it. To his surprise, it was Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn on the Nintendo 3DS.

"Wait, WHAT?" Lumpy couldn't believe it. "They made a 3DS version of Kirby's Epic Yarn?!"

"My goodness!" Marilyn said. "They really did, didn't they?"

"That..." Lumpy smiled as tears of joy filled his eyes. "That is awesome! Now I can play Epic Yarn wherever I want!"

He hugged the game for a few seconds, then put it aside. He picked up the next present and removed the wrapping paper from it. His eyes widened and pupils shrunk in surprise and delight. He had gotten Yoshi's Crafted World for the Nintendo Switch.

"I... Wow! Yoshi's Crafted World?!" Lumpy showed the game to Marilyn. "I've been waiting for this game all year!"

"I have to admit, that is a very cute-looking game, too," Marilyn said. "And with how good you are, I'd say you deserved it."

Lumpy smiled, then put the game aside and picked up the next present. When he held it in his hands, however, it felt like there were actually more than one object beneath the wrapping paper. Lumpy pulled off the paper and saw that it wasn't just one thing, but three. They were Yarn Yoshi amiibos; one green, one pink and one light blue, each one in a plastic box and waiting to be opened.

"Aww!" Lumpy's eyes sparkled in adoration. "They're so cuuute!"

"Oh, my goodness!" Marilyn agreed, as soon as she laid her eyes on the plush amiibos. "Those are simply adorable!"

"I can't wait to play with these when I get home," said Lumpy. "There's so many games I can play with three amiibos!"

"I'm happy you love those, too," said Marilyn. "Although I don't know anything about these so-called 'amiibos,' of course..."

Lumpy put the amiibos aside and picked up what seemed to be the last present. To savor the moment, he slowly and carefully removed the wrapping paper, looking away from the present at the last moment. When he looked back, he saw what it was: It was Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu, also for Nintendo Switch.

"Oh, my gosh...!" Lumpy said as a huge smile appeared on his face. "This... this is the one I wanted most of all!" He hugged the game in his arms. "And it's finally mine!"

He put the game aside, got up from where he had been sitting and sighed in satisfaction. Just then, Marilyn tapped his shoulder gently, causing him to look at her.

"Lumpy, darling?" Marilyn held a blue gift bag that Lumpy didn't remember bringing here. "This is for you, from me and your father."

Lumpy smiled and accepted the gift bag. "Thank you, Mom," said Lumpy.

He looked down at the bag, reached his arm into it and felt around for whatever was inside. Finally he found something soft, then pulled it out. It was a blue smiling teddy bear with an equally blue nose, and light purple eyes. Lumpy smiled and hugged the teddy bear.

"Aw, it's so cute..." said Lumpy in adoration. "Thank you so, so much, Mom and Dad."

"You're welcome, darling," said Marilyn with a smile.

"Yeah, don't mention it, sonny," Lumpward added.

"By the way, there's one more gift that I brought," said Lumpy. He put his teddy bear back in the gift bag, which he then put down. He picked up the final remaining gift. "This one is for both of you."

Marilyn smiled as Lumpy handed the gift to her. She opened it along with Lumpward. To both of their surprise, it was the box of hot chocolate that Lumpy had bought for them yesterday.

"Oh, Lumpy, thank you so much," said Marilyn. "You're very, very thoughtful."

"You sure are," said Lumpward in agreement. "You know us all too well, too."

Lumpy smiled and blushed at their comments. Marilyn placed the box of hot chocolate mix on the coffee table and hugged her son, as did Lumpward. Lumpy blushed even more, but smiled again and returned the favor.

"Shall we all have some hot chocolate together, darling?" Marilyn asked Lumpy.

"That sounds delicious," Lumpy said. When his parents let go of him, however, he reached into his pockets. "But before we do that, I'd like you to meet someone I brought..."

"Oh?" Marilyn asked.

Lumpy pulled out both of his Pokeballs, and pushed the buttons on both of them so that they became their normal sizes. He turned around and threw the Pokeballs so that they opened, and out came those familiar flashes of light that went onto the floor.

When the flashes subsided, there stood Lumpy's Lillipup and Bunnelby. Lumpy moved out of the way so his parents could see them. The two Pokemon looked up at Marilyn and Lumpward with a smile.

"Arf!" Lillipup yipped once to greet them.

"Oh, Lumpy! You brought your little Pokemon friends!" Marilyn said. She bent over, picked up the Lillipup and gave him a hug. "That is so sweet of you!"

Lumpward looked over at Lillipup, smiled and petted the top of his head. "It sure is," he mentioned.

When Marilyn put Lillipup back down on the floor, she then looked down at Bunnelby. He didn't look like a Pokemon she could recognize.

"Excuse me, Lumpy, but is this a Pokemon you've obtained recently?" Marilyn wanted to know.

"That one doesn't look like anything I've seen before, either," Lumpward agreed.

"No, I've had him for a while," said Lumpy. "But I don't think I've shown him to you. Mom, Dad, this Pokemon's name is Bunnelby."

"Why, hello there, little one," Marilyn greeted the Bunnelby. She petted the top of his head and his ears, with Bunnelby enjoying it. "I have to admit, he's just as cute as Lillipup."

"He kind of is," Lumpward said.

"Yeah, I think so, too." Lumpy petted the tips of Bunnelby's ears. "Even when I first got him, he's been a very nice, well-behaved Pokemon."

"That's good to hear," Marilyn commented.

"So, uh..." Lumpy thought for a moment. "You ready to make some hot chocolate?"

"Of course, sweetie," said Marilyn.

"Then we can sit down in front of the TV and watch a movie or something," said Lumpward.

Marilyn giggled at his comment, hand over mouth. "Oh, Lumpy!"

With that, Lumpy picked up the box of hot chocolate before he, Marilyn and Lumpward headed into the kitchen. It took them a few minutes, but soon they had finished enough hot chocolate for all three of them. They returned to the living room - Marilyn with her world's best mom mug, Lumpward with his world's best dad mug, and Lumpy with a dark blue mug with the letter L on it - and sat down on the couch. Lumpward picked up the remote and turned on the TV, at which point they began to watch a movie together. Lillipup and Bunnelby sat on the floor, close to Lumpy and Marilyn's legs, so they could watch the movie as well.

Finally, after a long and relaxing Christmas Day together, it was time for Lumpy and his Pokemon to go home. The sun was beginning to set into the horizon. Lumpy returned his Pokemon into their Pokeballs and put them back in his pockets.

"Thank you for the wonderful Christmas, Mom and Dad," Lumpy said to his parents.

"You're welcome, Lumpy," said Marilyn. "And thank you for making our Christmas wonderful, darling."

"Yeah, thanks. It wouldn't have been the same without you," Lumpward agreed.

Lumpy smiled. "You're welcome." He picked up his gift bag that still had the teddy bear inside, as well as every single gift that he had opened that were from Santa. "And thank you for the gifts. They were just as wonderful as my stay here."

"We're looking forward to seeing you again, sweetheart," Marilyn said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you guys again, too," Lumpy replied.

He gave both of his parents a warm hug; first his father, then his mother. They both smiled at him as he finished, and his mother gave him a kiss on the end of his nose when he was done. Lumpy blushed a bit, then turned, opened the front door and headed out to his car.

Lumpy placed his gift bag in the passenger seat of his car, then turned to wave goodbye to his parents. They were standing at the door, watching and waving in return. Lumpy got into the driver's seat and closed the car door. He fastened his seatbelt, placed his key in the slot, started the engine and drove away from his parents' house.

Again, it was a bit of a bumpy drive home, but Lumpy could handle it just fine. When he finally made it back to his house, he pulled into his driveway, killed the engine and took off his seatbelt. He opened the car door, stepped out with his bag of gifts, closed the doors and went into his house.

Missie had been waiting for him from the couch. She jumped down, went over to Lumpy and rubbed herself against his legs. Lumpy couldn't help but giggle as she did that.

"Hey, Missie, I'm home," Lumpy said. "You must have missed me, huh?" Missie purred to indicate that she had.

"I'll play with you soon, okay? There's a couple of things I still have to do."

Missie understood and walked away from Lumpy's legs.

As Lumpy put away his gifts so he could enjoy them when he wanted to, he still noticed the gift bag for Sniffles waiting underneath the tree. He went over to it, picked it up, then pulled out his smartphone. He sent Sniffles a text message, saying, "Can I come over? I've got a surprise for you."

Not long afterward, Sniffles responded. "Sounds good. But how would you like me to come over instead? You've probably had a long day."

"Okay."

Lumpy turned the screen off on his phone and put it back in his pocket. He then went over to the couch, sat down on it, put down his gift bag and pulled his Pokeballs out again. He pressed the buttons on them and threw them at the floor, deploying Lillipup and Bunnelby once again.

"Hmm, I think it's time I made you all your dinner," said Lumpy.

He stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, while Lillipup, Bunnelby and Missie followed him from behind. When Lumpy made it into the kitchen, he pulled out the red and blue pet dishes and put them on the counter. Lumpy then pulled out his bag of Pokemon kibble and filled both of the dishes with it. He then left them as Lillipup climbed up one of the chairs and jumped onto the counter, while Bunnelby hopped straight onto it. As they had yesterday, Lillipup ate from the red pet dish while Bunnelby ate from the blue one.

Lumpy then pulled out the pink pet dish for Missie. He picked up a can of cat food as well as a can opener, which he used to cut the top of the can open. He poured the can into the pet dish, then tossed the can in the trash and put the pet dish down in front of Missie. Missie happily went up to the dish and began eating.

Lumpy smiled as he threw away the can before putting away the bag of Pokemon kibble and the can opener. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. Lumpy walked out of the kitchen and went up to the front door, placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pulled it open.

As he expected, Sniffles was standing at the door. Unlike the last time Lumpy had seen him, he was wearing a light blue scarf, not much different from Lumpy's fur color. "Hey, Lumpy! Merry Christmas."

"Hey, Sniffles," Lumpy replied. "How was your Christmas?"

"Oh, it was wonderful," said Sniffles. "I had so much fun with my parents, and they gave me so many presents."

"I had a great time with my parents, too," said Lumpy. "And about that surprise for you..."

"Yeah?"

"One moment, please." Lumpy walked away from the door for a brief moment, and then returned with the gift bag that had been waiting on the couch. He handed the bag to Sniffles. "Here you go."

Sniffles smiled, accepted the bag and looked through it. To his happiness, he saw the pack of feathers and pepper shaker that Lumpy had gotten him yesterday.

"Oh, Lumpy! Thank you so much!" Sniffles said.

"You're welcome, Sniffles. I knew you'd like those," Lumpy replied with a smile.

"And by the way, I have a little something for you as well," said Sniffles. He reached behind his back and pulled out a small box with a ribbon wrapped around it. He showed the box to Lumpy.

"Oh, thank you," Lumpy replied. He took the box, pulled the ribbon off of it, and then removed the lid from the box. When he looked inside, his eyes sparkled and he smiled once again.

Sniffles had given him a plush toy of Tootie.

"Aaawwww!" Lumpy cooed. He put the lid aside, pulled out the plush Tootie and gave it a hug. "Thank you SO much, Sniffles!"

Sniffles giggled to himself in equal adoration, as well as happiness for Lumpy. "You're welcome, Lumpy. I knew you would love it."

Lumpy put the box aside and continued hugging his Tootie. "I'm gonna have so much fun with this tomorrow," he mused.

Suddenly, however, Lumpy felt a tickle in his nose. Holding his Tootie toy in one hand, he rubbed his nose with the other, but it didn't seem to work.

"What's the matter~?" Sniffles asked.

"I think I... have to sneeze..." Lumpy mentioned, but aside from his snout twitching, there wasn't much of a sign that he was going to. "Um, a little help, please?"

Sniffles smiled, reached into his gift bag and pulled out the bag of feathers. He gently tore it open, pulled out a feather and wiggled it underneath Lumpy's nose. Lumpy cringed as his nostrils flared up. He needed to sneeze.

"Aaaah... Haaaaaah..." Lumpy inhaled, dropping his Tootie toy. "AaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH..."

Sniffles tickled Lumpy's nose a little more, then pulled his feather away from his nose and watched in anticipation. With a final dramatic inhale and tilt of his upper body, Lumpy exploded.

"HAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH- CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth. On the plus side, Sniffles didn't get sprayed. Lumpy recovered from the sneeze, sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Hehehe!" Sniffles giggled in enjoyment. "Gesundheit~!"

"Thanks..." Lumpy continued to rub his nose.

Out of sympathy, Sniffles reached into his pocket, pulled out a tissue and offered it to Lumpy. Lumpy accepted it, blew his nose and then wiped it cutely, causing Sniffles to giggle even more.

"Oh, and thanks for getting my sneeze out," said Lumpy.

"No problem," Sniffles replied. "I'm gonna go now. It's kinda late, so we'll talk more in the morning, okay?"

Lumpy nodded in understanding and waved as Sniffles turned and walked away with his gift bag.

"See you tomorrow!" said Lumpy.

He closed his front door, picked his Tootie plush toy back up and smiled. He pulled his scarf off his neck, followed by his boots and socks. He also took off his sweater and pants, then put all of his clothes in the hamper. He briefly went upstairs to put his Tootie toy on the bed in his bedroom, then returned to the kitchen to make his dinner. He had fed his pets, now it was time to feed himself.

Lumpy washed his hands, opened the fridge, and pulled out a TV dinner of macaroni and cheese. He followed the instructions on how to make it; he poked the wrap a few times with a fork, then stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes. He repeated this a couple of times until it was ready to eat. Lumpy then took the macaroni and cheese out of the microwave, sat down at the table and ate. He ate his dinner without pepper this time, to keep himself from sneezing like he did the night before.

After dinner, Lumpy put his laundry in the washer, added some soap and started it up. He went to the dishwasher to do the dishes and put everything away in the cupboards and drawers. Lumpy then went upstairs into the bathroom, where he cleaned out Missie's litter box and filled it with fresh cat litter. By the time he'd finished, the washer had finished. Lumpy went back downstairs to put his wet clothes in the dryer, then cleaned out the lint screen - carefully so as not to sneeze from the lint - before he started the dryer up.

Then he stepped into the shower to clean himself off. After a few minutes, he came out of the shower and brushed his teeth. As he washed out his mouth with a few sips of water that he spat into the sink, he heard the dryer finish.

Lumpy went back downstairs, looked in his dryer carefully so as not to stir up any lint, and finally pulled out his fresh, warm pajama top and bottom. He shook them a few times to air them out, and then put his top on one arm at a time. Then he put on his pajama bottom one leg at a time. He took a deep inhale and sighed as he was surrounded by warmth, even as he buttoned his top closed.

"Ahh... Nothing like warm pajamas before bed," said Lumpy.

He turned off all of the lights in the kitchen and living room. After climbing the stairs, he opened the door to his bedroom and headed in. His Tootie plush toy was still on the bed, waiting for him.

Lumpy smiled and yawned into his hand. This had been a long day, he had done everything he needed to do, and was looking forward to going to sleep. He walked over to his bed, stepped in and got underneath the covers. He pressed his hands against his pillow to fluff it up, then looked over at his plush toy of Tootie, and gave her a hug.

"Nighty night, Tootie," Lumpy said softly.

He turned over to the light and switched it off, filling the room with darkness. Lumpy lay there on his back, holding his Tootie toy in his arms, as his eyelids fell closed and he began to snore. Over his snoring, he could hear the wind howling outside.

The End


End file.
